Project Three, Book

Project 3
Book
This book is called The Girl from Oak City

and tells the history of my grandmother,
Johanna Alldredge Cahoon. Aunt Connie
Cahoon Seawell wrote down the story, and
I edited the document, but it is easy to hear
my grandmothers personality and her voice
echoing through the pages.
I made some improvements to my draft.
For example, on the Table of Contents
page, I changed the title to include only the
word Contents and then pulled up the list
that contained the information about the
chapters. This change creates better proximity in the front matter.
I fixed the chapter headings and titles
to create better contrast. Additionally, I
changed some of the spacing in the text
that seemed awkwardly spaced or too close.
Finally, I removed the words left and right
on pages 9 and 20 because the information
was unneeded.
On December 8, 1933, a third daughter was born to Jack and

Alta Alldredge. The birth was long and hard because Johanna
weighed ten pounds. During the delivery, Altas sister Deon
held the oil lamp for Dr. Myron Bird to see. The new baby
girl was named Johanna after Altas mother, Johanna Talbot.
Ward Roper, Johannas cousin (Aunt Lelas son), could not
say Johanna correctly. Rather than calling the new baby by
Johanna, the little boy called her Shannah instead. Sometimes,
other family members used the nickname, but Johanna
never remembers her dad calling her anything but Shan.
One of the earliest stories Johanna remembers being told was
that as a baby, she crawled like a stinkbug. She got around
on her hands and feet. When she was one year old, she started
walking. As soon as she was up and walking, she was a typical
toddler, into everything. On one occasion, Johanna got into
her mothers picture collection of friends and relatives, and
Johanna shredded these pictures to bits.
This story tells about the early years of the girl from Oak City,
Utah known as Johanna Alldredge Cahoon.
The Girl
Oak City
from
Hollingsworth & Co. Provo
www.thegirlfromoakcity.wordpress.com
Written by Connie Cahoon Seawell
The Girl
Oak City
from
The Girl
Oak City
from
First Edition
Connie Seawell, Author

Catherine Ann Hollingsworth, Editor
Copyright 2014 Hollingsworth & Co.

All rights reserved.
The Girl from Oak City
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
The Early Years................................................................................................1
Chapter 2
Fourth Grade through High School............................................................19
Chapter 3
College and Marriage......................................................................................37
Forward
This history was written by Connie Cahoon Seawell, daughter of

Johanna. Sheri Cahoon, Johannas youngest daughter, provided the
photographs. Catherine Ann Hollingsworth, Johannas granddaughter,
has taken a selection of Johannas history and edited the original source.
This story looks at the early years of Johanna. Her friend Afton Lovell
described Johanna as a tall blonde girl with big brown eyes. Johanna
grew to be five feet, eight inches. Her hair, never a towhead blonde, got
darker with each year. By the time she went through high school and a
year of college, her hair darkened; she was a true brunette. Johanna had
fair skin and freckled easily. At the time she married, her measurements
were 36-26-36, and her wedding dress was a size 12. Johanna wore her
hair short and styled most of her life.
Johanna has always been beautiful. But one of Johannas greatest
characteristics is her infectious smile. Her wonderful sense of humor can
make anyone laugh. She is a pleasant, loving, and even-tempered woman.
She tirelessly serves family. This woman is frank in her opinions. If asked,
she will tell you what she thinks without sugarcoating it. She is a leader
and takes her responsibilities seriously in whatever she has to do. So many
people love and appreciate her. Here is her story.
vii
Chapter1
The Early Years
Johannas father was Jack Alldredge. Johannas mother

was Alta Tablot. Jack Alldredge served in World War
I. A short time after he returned home, he asked Alta
Talbot to be his bride. They were wed on October 4,
1920. The newlyweds homesteaded a farm below the
High Line Canal about four miles west of Oak City,
Utah. Here they raised turkeys.
During the Depression, Jack, Alta, and Cliff (Jacks

brother who had helped on the farm) took the turkeys to
Delta and sold them. The three of them took the check
from the sale straight to the bank. These funds are what
Jack and Alta intended to live on for the coming year,
but before they left town, the bank had gone broke.
Because the bank had gone broke, all of the money
they had earned from selling the turkeys was lost.
Cliff had taken his money out in travelers checks in
1
2 The Girl from Oak City
preparation for leaving on his mission. Fortunately,

the travelers checks were still good. However, Jack
never trusted banks after what happened and kept his
money in a tin box in the basement.
In 1933, Jack and Alta Alldredge and their daughters,
Jean and Faye, faced drought and the Depression. As
a result, the family moved from their farm to Oak
City. They rented a two-room house that was lit with
oil lamps. Jack found work with the Works Project
Administration (WPA). Each day that he worked, Jack
was paid one dollar. Alta churned butter and did sewing
for Sylvia Harris. Because of these projects, they earned
enough money to make a living.
Johanna as a Baby
On December 8, 1933, a third daughter was born to
Jack and Alta. The birth was long and hard because
Johanna weighed ten pounds. During the delivery,
Altas sister Deon held the oil lamp for Dr. Myron
Bird to see. The new baby girl was named Johanna after
Johanna Talbot, Altas mother.
Ward Roper, Johannas cousin (Aunt Lelas son), could
not say Johanna correctly. Rather than calling the new
baby by Johanna, the little boy called her Shannah
instead. Sometimes, other family members used the
nickname, but Johanna never remembers her dad calling her anything but Shan.
One of the earliest stories Johanna remembers being
told was that as a baby, she crawled like a stinkbug.
The Girl from Oak City 3
Johanna as a baby in front of her home
She got around on her hands and feet. When she turned
the age of one year, she started walking. As soon as she
was up and walking, she was a typical toddler, into everything. On one occasion, Johanna got into her mothers
picture collection of friends and relatives, and Johanna
shredded these pictures to bits.
One day Jack and Alta went down to their farm, which
was about five miles from town. They gathered their
things to bring to their Oak City home. They left
Johanna in the care of her older sisters, but the little
stinkbug did not want to be left behind. She got away
from Jean and Faye and followed her mom and dad.
Johanna stayed within sight of her parents until they got
into the cedars below town. Johanna became lost.
Brother Don L. Anderson, an Oak City man, was out
riding his horse and discovered little Johanna wandering in the cedars. He returned her to her sisters before
her parents got home. Many years later, Don Anderson
became bishop in Oak City and served as Johannas
bishop at the time she got married.
The Alldredges gave much away to others. Johanna
remembers an Indian friend of her dad who came each
year with his family. Jack and his friend would walk out
through the garden and gather what was needed.
In exchange, the Indian would give Jack a new pair of
deerskin gloves that his wife had made by chewing the
leather until it was soft. Then she would sew the gloves.
Johanna said she remembered that the Indian women
would never speak while the men were present, but after
the men went to the garden, the Indian woman and her
daughters would visit with her mother.
The House that Jack Built

When Johanna was only a toddler, Jack and Alta had
moved the family into the new home that Jack built
on their Oak City lot. Perhaps Johannas earliest

memory is of her dad driving the cows to their Oak
City home from the farm when they moved into the
house that Jack built.
As Johanna grew, her parents worked hard and employed
their talent for thrift. Within four years, they had
saved $125.00. Altas parents gave her a building lot
next door to their home. Along with the land, they
also received the water shares.
Getting the water shares was a great blessing because
it allowed the family to plant a garden and orchard
on their land. In the spring during high water, they
had extra water; they passed the surplus to Harold
Anderson, a big farmer. He repaid them by letting
Alta water in the daytime and provided hay to feed the
cows of the Alldredges. They always grew a beautiful
vegetable garden and orchard. They sold their goods
to the stores in Delta, and people would come up from
the valley to the Alldredge home.
Jack used railroad ties to build his family a four-room
house. It had one electric light hanging down in each
room. The kitchen had running water that was caught
by a bucket that sat beneath the spigot. The room had
no sink. There was no indoor bathroom.
The family bathed in a #3 galvanized-metal tub by the
kitchen stove. The stove had a door on the side, which
was used to feed the fire. Before church one Sunday
morning, little Johanna leaned against the stove door,
and it burnt her across the chest. She has carried the
scar throughout her life.
They heated the house with wood and coal. Although

central heat was something Alta always wanted, they
never got central heat. Jack took an old iron water
heater that was big, tall and round and sat it outside
the back of the garage. He ran a pipe inside the garage,
where he installed a showerhead.
There were planks of wood on the ground under the
showerhead. The water in the tank, heated by the sun,
supplied warm showers to the family during the summer.
Living arrangements in their new home were different.
The oldest child was given one bedroom. The rest of
the family shared the other bedroom.
The family used an outhouse for toilet facilities, and
an old catalog worked as toilet paper. Johanna learned
about staying dry at night when her older sister Jean
gave her a tip. If Johanna began dreaming of water or
felt cold, she was to wake herself up. It worked!
When Johanna was eight or nine, the family bought
their first refrigerator. Later, when Johanna was in
high school, her dad remodeled the house and added
a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Johanna remembers her dad drawing up the measurements for the
bathroom and ordering it from Sears & Roebuck. The
bathroom came in the mail. Jack put it all together
and installed the new indoor privy and shower.
A New Baby Brother

In January 1939, when Johanna was six years old, the
family was blessed with a baby boy. He was named
William John Alldredge after Grandpa William

Alldredge and his father, John. The family called the
new baby Bill.
Johannas memories of her brother include a time
when Jean was a senior in high school and had a part in
an opera. On the same night as the opera, there was
someones wedding dance at the recreation hall. Alta put
Johanna and Bill to bed then waited for them to go to
sleep. When the children fell asleep, Jack and Alta went
over to the dance. Johanna awoke to discover that she
had been left behind.
When Johanna realized they had been left behind, she
grabbed her little brother out of the bed and headed
into the night. With only their nightclothes on, no coat
for her and no blanket for her brother, she marched
across her grandmas yard, directly below Grandma
Talbots window heading for the recreation center.
As Jack and Alta turned the corner on their way home,
the car lights shined right on their two young children.
They put Johanna and Bill in the car and went back to
their little home. Johanna did not like being left behind.
When Bill was a toddler, Johanna and her sisters were
supposed to be watching him. He fell into an irrigation
ditch. As soon as he was missed, Alta ran down the
ditch and found him caught on the irrigation gate. He
was mostly under water. Alta grabbed him out by his
little feet.
Jean knew CPR, but it was not helping. Mr. Jacobson
was the man irrigating; he said Jean was not doing the
CPR hard enough, so he took over. The water soon

came bubbling out of Bills mouth and nose. He
sputtered and began breathing again. By that evening
when his dad got home from work, Bill was up running
around as if nothing had ever happened.
About a year after the near drowning, Johanna was
babysitting and had a glass lotion bottle propping the
window open. Bill knocked the bottle over, and the glass
broke. It cut his finger so badly, his finger was only
holding on by a little piece of skin. Alta rushed him to
Delta, and the doctor sewed it back together.
Johannas Best Friend, Vonetta

Vonetta Jacobson and Johanna became best friends at
age four. Living only half a block from each other, they
spent countless hours playing together. They would
make playhouses out under the trees.
Their mothers would call them into dinner, many times
before the two girls had even had a chance to play in
their little house. The girls could be seen walking all
around Oak City together.
In the spring after school was out, each morning
Johanna and Vonetta would herd the milk cows out
Lynndyl Road, where the cheat grass was abundantly green along the ditch bank. For a few hours every
morning, they spent time making and playing with
hollyhock dolls and picking leaves from the Locust trees
to do He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.
Vonetta (left) and Johanna (right)
This friendship lasted a lifetime. Wherever their lives

carried them, they always sent birthday cards and made
telephone calls to keep up with one another.
Early School Years

The summer of 1939, before Johanna would enter
school, Dr. Wright came to Oak City and gave preschool health exams to all the children ready to enter
school. During this time, the medical community
thought it medically sound to remove everyones tonsils.
So Johanna and a couple of the other children her age
had their tonsils removed before beginning school.
One day, all the children went to Dr. Walter Wrights
house in Delta, and he removed their tonsils on his
kitchen table. Johanna remembers waking up with a very
sore throat and being so thirsty. The doctors wife had
just served Alta lunch with grape juice. Johanna wanted
some. The doctor told her mom to go ahead and let her
have it, but Johanna would not like it. Of course, she
did not.
When Johanna entered first grade, Oak City had its own
elementary school. There was no kindergarten. The first
through third grades all met in the same classroom with
the same teacher. Mrs. Margaret W. Roper was Johannas
teacher for all three years. There were six other children
in Johannas first grade class.
Johanna remembers reading little books and doing little
activities where they would cut and paste words. The
class learned about trains and then made their own train
out of cardboard. The children were allowed to play in
it each day as they finished their work. Johanna said she
always felt bad for the kids that were slower getting
finished because they did not get to play in that special

train very often.
In the third grade, Johanna was sick. The doctor said that
Johanna was starving in a land of plenty (which meant
that she was a picky eater). He said she needed a lamb
chop and a shot of brandy every day. Since the family
could not afford lamb chops for everyone, Johanna was
treated to a lamp chop and spoonful of brandy each
afternoon until she got better.
Holidays and Seasons

Johannas teacher, Mrs. Roper, was also the Primary
president at church. When they did a play at school or in
Primary, they would practice in both places. Every year
at Christmas time, they would perform a play.
Alta would always sew new nightgowns and a new dress
for Johanna and her sisters for Christmas. They always
wore their new dresses to the Christmas Eve program at
the ward hall.
Oak City had a twenty-foot tree that they decorated
at Christmas. The children marched down from the
stage and circled around the tree. They would sing
Here Comes Santa Claus and sometimes many other
Christmas carols if Santa was late. Santa would come
and, without a word, would give out oranges, candies,
and nuts in little bags to everyone. Most of the time,
Santa would be hired from the nearby town of Lyndyl,
and all the grown-ups had fun guessing his real identity.
Christmas in the Alldredge home was simple. The

children were never allowed to open any gifts until
Christmas morning. Johanna was not allowed to get out
of bed until her dad had a fire started, and the room
was warmed up. They always had hard candy and nuts
on Christmas day.
Alta always made gumdrop cake at Christmas. Even
after Johanna married and had her own family, Johannas
mother would send this cake for Christmas. Years after
Alta passed away, her granddaughter Connie married at
Christmas time, and Johanna made Altas gumdrop cake
to serve at the wedding reception.
On New Years Eve, Jack always brought a box of
chocolates to celebrate the coming New Year.
On Easter Saturday, Johanna and her best friend
Vonetta (and sometimes others) walked the four miles
west of town to the sand dunes. They had fun rolling
eggs down the hills. Johanna would always stop at
Shipley Store on the way and get a package of sweet
rolls that she would include in their lunch. They would
play and then in the late afternoon or evening Johannas
dad would pick them up on his way from work.
Each spring, everyone did his or her cleaning and
clearing, both inside and out. Johannas family would
always trim their orchard and then have a big bonfire
in the road. Everyone would come, play games, and
have fun.
Johanna remembers many celebrations for the Fourth
of July and July 24th. They would make root beer, and
the girls would stay for a slumber party. The party was
always at Johannas house. They would sleep out under
the old willow tree. The Oak City boys always figured
out where the girls were, then came and threw water on
the sleeping girls. Alta would always get mad because
Johannas hair, being in curlers, would not be dry by
morning for the celebration.
July 24th was always a big celebration. Johannas Uncle
Piz was the scoutmaster, and he had the scouts dress up
like Indians. There would be a parade through town; at
the end, they would circle the wagons, and the Indians
would attack. One year, her uncle, dressed as an
Indian, grabbed her foot and scared her. She fled into
the car pulling the float.
Animals and Food

Jack and Alta always had two milk cows and pigs. In the
winter, they would slaughter the pigs. Jack would cure
the hams and bacon with salt. In the fall, Jack always
hunted deer, and Alta would bottle the deer meat. In
the winter, they would hang meat out on the north side
of the house where it would stay frozen. They would
cut off the meat as needed.
To extend the gardens fresh food, the family would
bury the cabbage heads in the ground on the south
side of the house. As they needed a cabbage head, they
would go out and pull one up.
Alta always had chickens. But Johanna wanted to raise
chickens herself. Mother and daughter would order
baby chicks from the catalog. The chicks would arrive

at the post office, and Johanna could hear the box go
peep, peep, peep.
For Sunday dinner every week, the family would eat
chicken. Other than chicken on Sunday and pork or
deer occasionally, the family did not eat a lot of meat.
They were always poor, but as a child, Johanna never
realized that. It was the Depression, which affected
everyone. To Johanna, her family seemed no poorer than
the average family of the time.
Johanna said her mother stored apples in the fruit
cellar. At Christmas, they would scrape the snow back,
go down, and retrieve the apples from the cold storage.
Her Dad would take out his pocketknife and peel the
apple. The family gathered around and watched to see
how long the apple skin would get before it broke.
Johanna said, They would be so cold and luscious; it
was a real treat.
The family always had cats. Once, an old mother cat
chose Jeans hatbox under the bed as the place to have
her kittens. Jean had many beautiful hats and they were
all ruined.
Each evening at nine oclock, Jack routinely wound the
clock, put the cat out, and went to bed. Johanna said,
He would always do it without fail. Another tradition
Johanna remembers was when her Dad came home
from work each evening, she felt it always a treat to
unlace the knee-high boots he always wore.
There was only one time Johanna remembers having a

dog during her childhood years. It was a black lab and
everyone thought he was kind of mean, so Jean and
Orin took the dog to live with them. After Johanna was
married, they had many dogs and cats. They also had
goldfish, a rat, a bird, and seahorses.
Oak City Life

The recreation hall played a large role in the lives of
the Oak City people. Construction began in 1908. At
the time, it was the largest building in Millard County.
The recreation hall became a focal point for socializing
in Oak City. Many wedding receptions, dances, parties,
and community celebrations (including Johannas own
wedding reception) were held at the recreation hall.
In 1935, work began on the swimming pool and an
open-air dance floor, where Johanna attended many
dances and roller-skating events. During the Depression,
this work project began when money was scarce. The
federal money from the Works Progress Administration
(WPA) financed the construction.
The men who lived in the area and depended on WPA
jobs did the work with shovels, picks, wheelbarrows,
and horses. The men dug and hauled the dirt from
the pool site. They also cut and milled the lumber for
the dance floor and concession stand. Johannas dad
worked for the WPA, but he did not work on the pool
and dance floor project. He worked on another project
over by Fillmore.
Growing up, Johanna loved the pool. She enjoyed

swimming there. Bert Roper was the pools caretaker and
often laughed at Johanna because instead of swimming
correctly, Johanna would dog paddle underwater for
long periods.
Among many wonderful memories she holds of this
place is of her baptism. On July 26, 1942, at the Oak City
pool, Johanna was baptized a member of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Leoyd Lovell, a
worthy young man from the community. Johanna was
confirmed by her grandpa, William Alldredge.
Historical Events
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Johanna had her eighth
birthday party. As some of the girls arrived, they told
her that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese.
She ran and told her mother. Word spread fast. By the
end of the day, her oldest sister, Jean, heard on the radio
that the Arizona had been sunk. Phil Jensen, Jeans
fianc, was serving on the Arizona. They did not get
official news of his death for several days.
While Johanna was growing up, Oak City, Utah was
a very small town of about four hundred people.
Everyone was Mormon and many neighbors were
relatives. The Great Depression and the outbreak of
World War II was a time of great struggle and tragedy.
These times also brought this small town together in
celebration.
People were always very patriotic. The flag meant a lot

to the community. At school and church, there were
patriotic programs where the children learned many
songs of patriotism and a feeling of honor for God
and country.
The town lost two of her sons in World War II. When
Rawlin Roper was flying his last mission before coming home, his plane was shot down over Europe. Phil
Finlinson died at Iwo Jima. At school, the community
sold war-bond books.
The children would buy stamps to fill their books, and
when they got $18.50, they could purchase a war bond.
When the war bond matured, it was worth $25.00. Once
a week, Johanna would take a quarter to put money on a
war bond. When Johanna got married, she used her war
bonds to buy her first washing machine.
From 1942 to 1945, the government operated an
internment camp for Japanese people at Topaz, Utah
(about sixteen miles northwest of Delta). Johanna never
went out to the camp, but she remembers that people in
the camp were brought to Delta to shop. Occasionally,
the people were brought up to the Oak City Canyon.
She says she never remembers anyone ever treating
them poorly.
However, Elden (Johannas future husband) remembered
a story his dad told him. Eldens father, Cecil, told about
a man who was Japanese living in the area who worked
on the railroad as a section hand. Cecil said some of
the people riding on passing trains would throw trash
and stuff at this man as he was working. All the men he
worked with knew him to be a very good man, and his

co-workers were mad to see the man who was Japanese
treated so unfairly.
After the war, the government closed the Topaz camp.
Everything from buildings to blankets were sold to
whoever wanted it. Local farmers purchased buildings
to be used for storage. Johannas mother bought two
army cots and two army blankets from the camp. Later,
Johanna was given one of the blankets, which she
eventually cut up and pieced into a quilt.
In 1943, two major events happened in Johannas family.
First, Johanna got a new baby sister. They named her
Margaret Alice. When Margaret was a baby, she came
down with whooping cough. She was very sick and
took lots of tending. Johanna remembers once when
Alta took a break and went next door to visit with
her mother. Faye and Johanna were left to watch after
Margaret. Little Margaret took to a coughing spell, and
Johanna was sent to get her mother to come back.
The second major event occurred when Jean (Johannas
oldest sister) married Orin F. Allred. Orin was from
Deseret and was home on leave from the Navy for the
Christmas holiday. The couple went to San Francisco,
where he was stationed, and were married there.
Chapter
2
Fourth Grade through
High School
The school combined the fourth and the fifth grade
classes under the same teacher. In fourth grade, Johannas

teacher was Ella Thompson, who married and left the
school before fifth grade commenced.
Miss Arvilla Jacobson stepped in to teach that year.
It was in these years that Johanna mastered her times
tables. She feels that knowing the times tables is very
important and worked hard with her own children to
help them with this memorization.
Johanna was good at memorizing and always had a
strong voice. In the school programs, she always received
large speaking parts, although she was never assigned
singing parts. She said, I had no song in me.
Johanna took piano lessons from Mrs. Shipley. Johanna
said, Although I could practice and play all the notes, it
19
Johanna (left) and Faye (right) show off their new dresses
just never made music. Although Johanna did not seem

to be musically talented, she was good in drama. In fifth
grade, she wrote and directed a three-act play for the
schools Thanksgiving Program.
The school gave the students an hour for lunch each
day. They would walk home to eat. Each morning and
afternoon, they were given recess. When it was cold outside, the children would play in the big central hallway
of the school. On Friday, they would play music and
hold a dance in the schools large hallway.
When talking about her school days, Johanna said,
We also liked hop scotch, marbles and jump rope.
On Primary day, we loved walking the fence that went
around the churchyard. In the winter, we played Fox
and Geese and made snow angels and snowmen. On
the last day of school, the teachers took us on a horse
drawn hay rack to the canyon for a picnic.
When Johanna was in the older grades of elementary
school, much of the summer was spent in 4-H club
activities. We learned to sew and cook. Johanna got
a blue ribbon at the county fair for a blue percale dress
she had sewn. Johanna was proud of her accomplishments in 4-H and the blue ribbon she won.
Johannas voice echoed with pride whenever she speaks
of her talented mother, who was a talented seamstress
and loved arranging flowers. Johanna said that she always
felt that her mother was held back in her talent because
of the time and circumstance of where she lived.
Johanna felt her mother would have made a wonderful
Relief Society president. However, her husband was not
active and was known as the only smoker in Oak City.

Alta was never given the opportunity.
Alta was an excellent seamstress, so Johanna was always
nicely dressed. She received a new dress for Easter,
Christmas, and the Fourth of July. Johanna was also
given two new dresses for school each year. It was in
the seventh grade that Johanna received her first store
bought dress that was ordered out of the catalog. Her
dress was blue and gray.
Johannas Grandparents
In the spring between fourth and fifth grade, Johannas
Grandma Talbot became ill and was in the hospital in
Salt Lake City. During World War II, round-the-clock
nursing was not provided in the hospitals. Families were
expected to help in the care of their loved ones. Alta
took Johanna, Bill, and Margaret to Salt Lake, so that
she could help with the care of her mother.
This trip was Johannas first train ride and her first time
in Salt Lake City. Alta and her children stayed with one
of her sisters who lived in Salt Lake. During their stay,
Alta took the children to see the sights there. When they
got to the square in downtown Salt Lake City, Bill was
petrified of the traffic. He cried and cried, so Alta had
to carry him. Johanna carried Margaret. This happening
cut their downtown adventure short.
Grandma Talbot died about six weeks after their
trip. Grandma and Grandpa Talbot lived next
door. Johanna had spent a lot of time with her. She
remembered as a child thinking how big her dining

room was. Johanna Talbot always had a beautifully set
table with a perfectly pressed tablecloth on the table.
Young Johanna Alldredge always loved getting her
favorite treat of homemade bread with pure cream and
sugar on it from her Grandma Talbot.
Grandma and Grandpa Alldredge lived just down the
road. Johanna recalls walking with her dad in the evenings
to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Alldredge. Johanna
was always a little timid around her Grandma Alldredge,
but she had a baby doll that her granddaughter loved to
play with. Johanna would always climb on her dads lap
and whisper for him to ask if she could play with the
doll. Grandma Alldredge always allowed her to play with
the baby doll.
When it was time to go home, Johanna would return the
doll, and her family would make the short walk home.
Johanna would always rush ahead so she could get
home first and begin milking the cows before her dad
got there.
Johanna never learned how to milk properly, but she
could strip with two fingers and that would get her at
least a taste. Jack would soon be there and take over the
milking but not before Johanna obtained her treat of
fresh warm milk straight from the cow.
Johanna was proud of her family. One day in school,
she was arguing with Fred and declaring that her
Grandpa Alldredge could charm warts off. Her friend
Afton had a wart on her finger and had overheard
the exchange. She was desperate to have her wart gone,
so Afton followed Johanna to ask her more about the

magic. Johanna told her proudly that her Grandpa had
removed many warts.
Johanna took Afton to see her Grandpa and asked him
to charm Aftons wart off. Afton said the following of
the experience: He held my fingers gently, and with his
free hand, he barely touched my wart. He then spit a
tiny bit on two of his fingers, making a low mysterious
mumble. Then squeezing my fingers he asked, Do you
believe this wart will go away? I nodded my head, and
he went back into his house. Johanna told me not to
touch the wart or it would never go away.
Later, at Sunday school, Afton told Johanna she did
not think her grandfather had magic to take off warts.
Johanna said, Youll see. Not long after that interaction,
Afton was collecting an egg, when she looked at her
hand and realized that her wart was gone. Johanna said
she never knew how her Grandpa did it, but she knew
of many warts that he charmed away.
Cousin Cona
Cona was Johannas cousin. Their birthdays are exactly
one month apart Cona, being the oldest. Cona had lived
in California at the time they started school and was
allowed to enter school a year earlier than Johanna was
in Oak City. When Cona came to live in Oak City, she
and Johanna became friends quickly.
Johanna said that Cona had a great love for animals and
enjoyed the outdoors. Johanna remembers Cona climbing
The family in Bryce Canyon (Johanna on far right)
up on the cow shed to watch a birds nest. She spent so

much time up there that the birds actually allowed Cona
to feed the babies.
One summer Johanna and Cona found a large snake

that had been hit in the road. It had a large swelling in
the middle, and they wanted to know what was inside.
She and Cona got an opened can lid and used the sharp
edge to cut it open. There was nothing inside, but the
snake interested them, and so they skinned it.
Cona lived in Oak City only a short time before her
family moved to Delta. After Cona moved, Johanna
remembers going to stay with her and even attending
school for the day with her in Delta.
The Alldredges loved to celebrate things in Oak City
Canyon. They would often camp there. Johanna remembers catching her first fish there. She and Cona went
fishing by the second resort. The creek had washed out,
and it was dark and deep.
The two girls wanted to know how deep it was, so
Johanna stuck her pole in and when she pulled it up
there was a fish on the line. She was very excited and
ran all the way back to their camp at the Big Springs
with the fish still dangling on the line.
The family would bring a quilt or two and sleep out on
the ground. One time, the entire Alldredge clan of eight
or nine kids and their families went camping for a whole
week. Johanna was impressed because her Aunt Lela
had a tent to sleep in. Every morning and evening the
men would go down to milk the cows, and sometimes
they would bring a treat back. Camping in the canyon
was something Johanna loved her whole life.
The Year of 1944

In January 1944, there was another addition to the
family. Johanna became an aunt when Jean had a little
girl, whose name was Gloria Jean Allred. Alta quickly
potty-trained Margaret, so she could give Jean the diapers
for Gloria. This time was during war.
Items, like sugar, rubber, and gas, were rationed. Things
like fabric were even harder to get because most factories
and mills sent everything they produced to support the
war effort. The woman who owned the Oak City store
had some pretty fabric to make an apron, and she let
Alta buy it to make little Gloria a new outfit.
It was in 1944 that Johanna got a paper route delivering
the Deseret News. She was to keep the route for five
years. Most everyone in town took the newspaper, so
she rode her bike to every end of town.
Johanna sold enough papers to earn a trip to California.
However, since she was the only girl to win, the paper
would not allow her to go on the trip and instead gave
her a nice pair of roller skates.
When she first started her route, the papers would be
delivered to the post office. Johanna had a bench where
she left the papers and a list of subscribers. As people
picked up their mail at the post office, they would get
their paper and cross their name off the list.
In the afternoon, Johanna would pick up the remaining
papers and deliver them to the proper houses. Johanna
recalls, The houses needing home delivery always

seemed to be the houses farthest away.
Later, the newspaper started delivering the papers
directly to her house. Johanna then delivered each paper
directly to the subscribers homes.
Once a month, she would go to each customers house
and collect $1.30. In 19481949, the last winter she
delivered papers there was a big snow. It was piled up to
the telephone lines. To get all the papers delivered, her
whole family helped. They would each take a block.
Johanna delivered the papers wearing her school dress.
Johanna would get home and her legs would be frozen
with big red marks at the top of her rubber boots. That
next spring she gave up her route. With the money
she made from her route, she bought a new bike, an
Underwood typewriter (that she still has in 2014), and
four war bonds.
Sixth through Twelfth Grade

In the sixth grade, Herman C. Bement was Johannas
teacher. The kids were very mean to him. The students
started rumors about him. For example, they said
Bement carried a gun with him. But Johanna said this
rumor was false. Johanna never said anything because
she liked him. Bement was a good teacher, and he really
went the extra mile for the students.
One time, Bement put a preying mantis and a black
widow in a bottle, and the students watched the mantis
eat the black widow. Another time, the students watched

a mouse suffocate in a bottle.
The class rode in the back of a flatbed cattle truck with
sideboards all the way to Salt Lake City. They toured
the city, and they visited the zoo, the state capital, the
airport, the temple grounds, and the park.
Most of these sites they had never seen before. The
class even got their picture taken and put in the
Deseret News. They had a great time, and they packed
it all into one day.
During the year, Mr. Bement even took them to the
movies sometimes in Delta. It was in this year that Nola
Christensen died from a ruptured appendix. There were
only five girls in the class, so Nolas death hit her classmates hard and was a very sad experience for all.
In sixth grade, Johanna walked several miles south of
town to a big party. There was a big bonfire, and everyone played games like Run Sheepie Run and Hide
and Seek and had lots of fun. She stayed out way too
late. Her parents came and found her as she was on her
way home.
In seventh grade, her teacher was Thomas K. Pratt, and
that year was full of Zip and Pop, which just means
that they fought and had a hard time getting along.
Johanna was one of the oldest girls in elementary school,
and all the oldest girls loved to show their authority. They
decided the top coatracks were only for the oldest girls.
We fought the younger girls all year long. Hair pulling
by the coat racks was a common occurrence.
In seventh grade, Brent Lovell took Johanna to her

first formal dance. They went to the Delta High School
Junior Prom.
In school, the girls always had to wear dresses. It was
not until high school that they were allowed to wear jeans
and then only on Friday. All the girls would wear them
rolled up to their knees.
Johanna always wore her best Sunday dress made by
her mom. She attended church and held the calling of
Sunday School Secretary. From eighth grade until she
graduated high school, she served in this calling and did
not attend class; instead, she collected the class rolls.
Church began with early morning priesthood for the
men and then Sunday school at 10:00 in the morning.
At 7:30 on Sunday evening, the ward gathered again for
sacrament meeting.
The church had a big bell. It rang one half hour before
each meeting to signal the community that it was time
to change and go to meeting. When Johanna was growing up, the church held Primary, mutual, Relief Society
work meeting, and choir practice during the week. The
bell rang even for the weekday meetings.
Johannas school class was the first bussed to Delta for
eighth grade. From eighth through twelfth grade, she
rode the bus. Today, all the children from Oak City are
bussed to Delta for school.
In ninth grade, Johanna participated in Freshie Day.
All the freshmen dressed up. She dressed like Blondie
from the funny papers and the tenth grade students fed
the freshmen baby food mixed with awful things like
red peppers and garlic. Another day the whole school
dressed up for Girls Day. On this day, everyone
dressed up like a little girl.
Johanna was naturally left-handed, but she was taught
to do things with her right hand. She was ambidextrous.
She said she was never very good with either hand. She
remembers having a very hard time learning to sweep the
floor. Johanna always hated PE after the teacher forgot
that she batted left-handed and accidentally hit Johanna in
the head trying to show her how to hit the ball.
Johannas Algebra teacher could never explain Algebra
to her. She was talking in class one day wearing her pep
club uniform. The teacher told her if she wanted to
keep the uniform, she had better zip her mouth. If she
kept her mouth shut, he would give her a B for the class.
She did, and she got her B.
In the tenth grade, tragedy struck again with the loss
of two more Delta classmates. One died of leukemia,
and the other student was hit by a car. It was in this year
that Johanna became close friends with Afton Lovell.
Johanna, Vonetta, and Afton had a great time together.
She had countless experiences with her friends from
Oak City that winter.
Once, Johanna was with Fred Anderson in his Jeep
chasing Brent Lovell in his Model A Ford. Fred made
a sharp U-turn, and Johanna flew out of the Jeep and
landed on her back on the gravel road. She was not hurt
badly, but it peeled all the skin off her back.
The hard winter of 194849, Fred Anderson dropped

out of school to help feed the range cattle, but he still
had time to play. Johanna said, We were the first ones
to make it up to the resort in the canyon.
His parents drove a new Chrysler car. He got it one
night, and they went to Delta to the movies. He brought
his piggy bank and used pennies, dimes, and nickels
to pay for the tickets. Another time, Fred and Johanna
went to the sinks (an overflow lake northwest of Oak
City) for a canoe ride. The water was a little choppy, and
it made Johanna sick to her stomach. She says she never
really liked boat rides after that canoe ride.
Johanna recalls that same winter when Julian Finlinson
fixed a bobsled pulled by a horse, and we all had lots of
fun in the snow riding on that sled.
During the Easter break of Johannas tenth grade year,
she traveled with Afton and Aftons sister and brotherin-law to Lehmans cave in Nevada. This trip was the
first time Johanna had ever been outside the state of
Utah. She had lots of fun.
Throughout Johannas school days, she participated
in the activities at the high school. She was very active
in the Pep Club. She said of her junior prom, They
chose a patriotic theme, My Own America, instead
of a dance song. The whole Junior Class spent a week
decorating the gym. She recalled the ceiling beautifully
decorated as the American Flag. She had so much fun
preparing for the prom that her actual date with Antone
Christiansen was anticlimactic.
Her senior year Johanna was elected to the Harvest Ball

Royality as an attendant. Along with being very socially
active in school, she also did well in academics. She was
on the honor roll.
Jean and Faye at Dixie College

Jack and Alta wanted their children to experience
college, but because of money, they each could go for
only one year. When it came time for Jean and Faye to
go, they went to Dixie in St. George. Jean attended in
the early 1940s. While Jean was there, she met a girl who
was her look-alike and was born on the same day. It was
so uncanny that the Tribune published their pictures in
the paper.
Mrs. Roper, Johannas teacher for first, second, and third
grade, took the paper and clipped it out for Alta. Alta
sent Johanna to get it. Johanna did as she was asked, but
on the way, back she stopped along the ditch bank to
play. The clipping got all wet and muddy. Johanna got a
spanking for being so irresponsible.
When Faye went for her year at Dixie, Johanna rode
the bus down to stay with her for a few days at the
end of the school year. Johanna deplored the intense
southern Utah heat. It was so hot that all she wanted
to do was lay in front of a fan all day. Johanna said she
could never imagine anyone living in such a hot place.
Little did she know then that she would end up rearing
her family in the hot desert of Las Vegas. Jack and Alta
Johanna as a teenager
came with Bill and Margaret to collect Johanna. On the

way home, they stopped in Bryce Canyon.
After spending her year at Dixie, Faye returned home
and got a job as a carhop in Delta where she met Ted
Clark. While Faye and Ted dated, Johanna occasionally
went with them to the movies.
In October 1950, Faye and Ted married. Ted was
Catholic. It worried her parents that Faye married out
of the church, but Ted proved to be a wonderful lifelong companion.
Patriarchal Blessing
A few months before Johannas sixteenth birthday on
October 22, 1949, she received her Patriarchal Blessing.
A group of kids around her age traveled to Hinckley,
where the Patriarch resided.
Patriarch Charles R. Woodbury laid his hands on
her head and gave her a blessing. Johanna was told
of a great mission set out for her and told of her
leadership abilities: she would be a great teacher and
leader of women. Johanna remembers thinking that
Patriarch Woodbury and his wife were really old. Sister
Woodbury served as her husbands scribe. She wrote
the blessing in long hand as he spoke. Not many days
after her blessing, Johanna received a copy, handwritten
in pencil, in the mail.
The prominent impression held by the youthful Johanna
was that of the patriarchs age. After a life as the mother
of four daughters and having held myriad leadership

callings in Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society,
Johanna is amazed at the patriachs spiritual foresight.
Chapter 3
College and Marriage
In her senior year Johanna was awarded an academic
scholarship to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. At Snow,

Johanna lived in a three-story dormitory. One of the
good memories Johanna has from her year at Snow is
that she and her roommates would often invite the boys
over to eat waffles. The boys would bring the ingredients,
and Johanna would cook the waffles.
Johanna did not go home to Oak City very often.
However, her roommates, who came from towns near
the college, went home frequently. One particular weekend Johanna found herself alone in her dorm room
while her roommates were visiting home. Suddenly one
of the girls from downstairs frantically knocked at the
door looking for help.
The four girls that lived downstairs had decided to
have a drinking party. None of the girls had ever
37
Johannas senior picture in high school
drunk alcohol before and wanted the experience. The

girl that was at Johannas door asking for help had been
designated the one to remain sober. The other girls
got drunker than drunk, and the sober girl became

exasperated and in need of help to handle the situation.
When Johanna entered the apartment below hers, the
stench of puke smacked her in the face. Bathtubs, toilets,
and sinks were covered in vomit.
Johanna left and returned with coffee to sober up her
schoolmates, but one girl refused to drink it. She said,
I cannot drink it. My bishop said for me to never
drink coffee.
Work at the Bank

After a year at Snow College, Johanna left school and
moved to Salt Lake City. She rented a room in the
Beehive House for one month to look for a job. She
did not find one right away and found that she did not
really like the city. After a month, she came home and
applied for work at the power company.
The assistant manager, Ferrin Lovell, of the First
Security Bank in Delta, decided the bank needed help.
He came down to the house and asked her to come
to work for the bank. Johanna decided to take the offer
because there were other girls working there, while she
would be the only female working at the power company.
Her dad would drop her at the bank in the morning and
pick her up each evening. Most of the time Johanna
would finish first. Sometimes, when the books did
not balance right away, her dad would have to wait.
Cokes were a dime at Mercer Drug Store, but Jack
never carried any money. He would always say, Shan,

do you have a dime for a coke? She would always get
him a drink.
As Johanna grew up, her family always called her Shan,
but sometimes people would try to call her Jo. She
would never allow people to call her Jo because there
was a man who lived across the road whose name was
Joe, and he always scared her. When she went to work
at the bank, they all called her Jo and from then on the
nickname stuck.
The Days of the Old West was a big celebration in
Millard County. Each year there were rodeos and parades
to commemorate the state founders. One year the bank
chose Johanna to ride on their float.
While working at the bank, Johanna saved her money
and purchased a cedar chest. It was blonde wood with a
top opening chest and a large drawer at the bottom. It
would hold many of her treasures over her lifetime.
In addition, while working at the bank, she bought a set
of brown Samsonite luggage, fine china, and silverware.
The china, painted with a pale green stalk of bamboo,
was rimmed with silver. The silverware had an orchid on
the handle and was used at many special family occasions
over the years.
The Courtship
On many evenings, Johanna and her friends would
drag main. This meant they would drive up and down
Deltas Main Street after work, their goal being that of

meeting other young people.
Nella Styler, who worked with Johanna, told her friend,
I know who to get you with.
Johanna balked, Oh, no you dont!
Nella had grown up with Elden Cahoon, a tall lanky boy
known as Ellie to his friends.
One wintery day, Johanna met Elden Cahoon when he
stopped by the bank to cash his war bonds. Elden had
just gotten back home in January 1954. He served in the
Korean War. While in the service, he had purchased war
bonds as a way to save money.
The former Army medic used his savings to buy a new
blue Studebaker truck. The truck was the basic model,
which came with no heater. When he got home, he
worked at the seed plant in Delta.
A week or so after Elden met Johanna, Nella was
supposed to give Jo a ride home from work. Instead,
Nella made an excuse and arranged for Elden to drive
Johanna to Oak City. Johanna directed him through the
cold dark Utah evening. They chatted about nothing in
particular as they got acquainted.
Elden drew his truck up in front of the Alldredge
home and switched off the engine. The young couple
lost track of time as they talked inside the unheated
truck. Finally, Elden walked Johanna to her front door
and said goodnight.
Nella, Jo, and their girlfriends continued socializing by

dragging Main Street. Elden and his truck were part
of those making the circuit up and down Main, but
soon Elden began looking especially for the young girl
with the beautiful brown eyes from Oak City, and their
courtship began.
In February, Elden invited Johanna to his homecoming
party. Nella and Johanna went shopping for the occasion
in Salt Lake City. Johanna bought a pretty, navy blue
dress and some white sandals to wear to the party. The
homecoming was held at the Oasis chapel. A local
orchestra played.
For one of the few times in their relationship, Ellie
and Jo danced. Johanna recalls, The only time we
danced together was at the homecoming and our
wedding reception. Well, a few times, we went to Billy
Vanns and danced.
By the spring, Eldens Studebaker knew its way to the
Alldredge house in the tiny town of Oak City. They
often went to the movies followed by dinner at the caf.
By summer, Ellie and Jo were an item. They went to
Provo for bowling and a Chinese dinner. These were
first time events for Johanna.
The Engagement
Then one night in August, as they sat in the Studebaker,
in front of the Oak City Chapel, Elden asked Johanna
to marry him. Johanna remembers, I kinda thought he
was going to ask me, but that was a big step. She told
him that she would think about it.
In the fall, Ellie took her to the horse races in Ely,
Nevada and then afterwards they went to Lehmans
Cave. They went to the Ute Stampede Rodeo. Johanna
said, I told Faye I was in love, and I was going to marry
him even if his ears were big. On Johannas birthday,
December 8, 1954, she said yes and accepted Ellies ring.
On New Years Eve, Elden came to the bank to pick
Johanna up from work to go to the New Years Eve
Dance. She was not quite ready, and he rested on the
banks sofa because he was not feeling well. Johanna was
soon ready, and they went to the dance but not for long
because Elden was feeling sick.
The next morning the Oak City telephone operator
came by the Alldredge home, because they did not have
a phone, to give Johanna a message that Elden would
not be coming by that morning as planned. Ellie was in
bed with the chicken pox.
He was very sick; Johanna went to see him. This visit
was the first time Johanna had ever seen him unshaved,
and she was surprised to see a face full of red whiskers.
The Wedding
On June 2, 1955, Johanna and Elden were married in
the Manti Temple at Manti, San Pete, Utah. Eldens
parents, his sister Ula, and her husband, Don Day, were
there on the grooms side. Johannas Uncle Cloyd, Aunt
Elden and Johannas wedding reception
Emma, Jos sister Jean, and Jeans husband, Orin Allred,

were there for the bride. Cecil Cahoon, Eldens dad, and
Don Day served as witnesses.
The reception was held that evening at the Oak City
Recreation Hall. They had arranged for someone to take
pictures. However, after taking only a few shots, the
photographer ran out of film.
Before he returned, Elden and Johanna departed from
the reception. They ended up with only one or two
pictures of the entire wedding, which was always a
source of regret for Johanna.
The shivaree was a big tradition in this area. The brides
and grooms friends would try to separate the couple
on the wedding night and play a dirty trick on them.
Johanna was worried about what their friends would do.
Despite what their friends intended to do, Elden did not
allow his wife to be separated from him, so their friends
ended up taking them together to a steak dinner and
keeping them out most of the night.
The Honeymoon & Ever After

After leaving their friends, the newlyweds went to
Eldens house and traded the Studebaker for his dads
car. Then they drove to St. George through Richfield.
After the wedding, the reception, the shivaree, and the
drive to St. George in a car with no air conditioning,
they were exhausted as they checked in to the motel.
They went to their room and fell asleep. After their

nap, they cleaned up and left to go to dinner. The
desk clerk tried to rent them another room because
the clerk did not recognize them from earlier.
The next morning breakfast was memorable to
Johanna as it was the first time she had ever eaten out
for breakfast in a cafe.
Their marriage was a happy one, and they were married
for fifty-three years.
Elden and Johannas wedding anniversary
On December 8, 1933, a third daughter was born to Jack and

Alta Alldredge. The birth was long and hard because Johanna
weighed ten pounds. During the delivery, Altas sister Deon
held the oil lamp for Dr. Myron Bird to see. The new baby
girl was named Johanna after Altas mother, Johanna Talbot.
Ward Roper, Johannas cousin (Aunt Lelas son), could not
say Johanna correctly. Rather than calling the new baby by
Johanna, the little boy called her Shannah instead. Sometimes,
other family members used the nickname, but Johanna
never remembers her dad calling her anything but Shan.
One of the earliest stories Johanna remembers being told was
that as a baby, she crawled like a stinkbug. She got around
on her hands and feet. When she was one year old, she started
walking. As soon as she was up and walking, she was a typical
toddler, into everything. On one occasion, Johanna got into
her mothers picture collection of friends and relatives, and
Johanna shredded these pictures to bits.
This story tells about the early years of the girl from Oak City,
Utah known as Johanna Alldredge Cahoon.
The Girl
Oak City
from
www.thegirlfromoakcity.wordpress.com
Written by Connie Cahoon Seawell
The Girl
Oak City
from
The Girl
Oak City
from
Second Edition
Connie Seawell, Author

Catherine Ann Hollingsworth, Editor
Copyright 2014 Hollingsworth & Co.

All rights reserved.
The Girl from Oak City
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Chapter 1
The Early Years................................................................................................1
Chapter 2
Fourth Grade through High School............................................................19
Chapter 3
College and Marriage......................................................................................37
Forward
This history was written by Connie Cahoon Seawell, daughter of

Johanna. Sheri Cahoon, Johannas youngest daughter, provided the
photographs. Catherine Ann Hollingsworth, Johannas granddaughter,
has taken a selection of Johannas history and edited the original source.
This story looks at the early years of Johanna. Her friend Afton Lovell
described Johanna as a tall blonde girl with big brown eyes. Johanna
grew to be five feet, eight inches. Her hair, never a towhead blonde, got
darker with each year. By the time she went through high school and a
year of college, her hair darkened; she was a true brunette. Johanna had
fair skin and freckled easily. At the time she married, her measurements
were 36-26-36, and her wedding dress was a size 12. Johanna wore her
hair short and styled most of her life.
Johanna has always been beautiful. But one of Johannas greatest
characteristics is her infectious smile. Her wonderful sense of humor can
make anyone laugh. She is a pleasant, loving, and even-tempered woman.
She tirelessly serves family. This woman is frank in her opinions. If asked,
she will tell you what she thinks without sugarcoating it. She is a leader
and takes her responsibilities seriously in whatever she has to do. So many
people love and appreciate her. Here is her story.
vii
The Early Years
Johannas father was Jack Alldredge. Johannas mother
was Alta Tablot. Jack Alldredge served in World War

I. A short time after he returned home, he asked Alta
Talbot to be his bride. They were wed on October 4,
1920. The newlyweds homesteaded a farm below the
High Line Canal about four miles west of Oak City,
Utah. Here they raised turkeys.
During the Depression, Jack, Alta, and Cliff (Jacks
brother who had helped on the farm) took the turkeys to
Delta and sold them. The three of them took the check
from the sale straight to the bank. These funds are what
Jack and Alta intended to live on for the coming year,
but before they left town, the bank had gone broke.
Because the bank had gone broke, all of the money
they had earned from selling the turkeys was lost.
Cliff had taken his money out in travelers checks in
1
preparation for leaving on his mission. Fortunately,

the travelers checks were still good. However, Jack
never trusted banks after what happened and kept his
money in a tin box in the basement.
In 1933, Jack and Alta Alldredge and their daughters,
Jean and Faye, faced drought and the Depression. As
a result, the family moved from their farm to Oak
City. They rented a two-room house that was lit with
oil lamps. Jack found work with the Works Project
Administration (WPA). Each day that he worked, Jack
was paid one dollar. Alta churned butter and did sewing
for Sylvia Harris. Because of these projects, they earned
enough money to make a living.
Johanna as a Baby
On December 8, 1933, a third daughter was born to
Jack and Alta. The birth was long and hard because
Johanna weighed ten pounds. During the delivery,
Altas sister Deon held the oil lamp for Dr. Myron
Bird to see. The new baby girl was named Johanna after
Johanna Talbot, Altas mother.
Ward Roper, Johannas cousin (Aunt Lelas son), could
not say Johanna correctly. Rather than calling the new
baby by Johanna, the little boy called her Shannah
instead. Sometimes, other family members used the
nickname, but Johanna never remembers her dad calling her anything but Shan.
One of the earliest stories Johanna remembers being
told was that as a baby, she crawled like a stinkbug.
Johanna as a baby in front of her home
She got around on her hands and feet. When she turned
the age of one year, she started walking. As soon as she
was up and walking, she was a typical toddler, into everything. On one occasion, Johanna got into her mothers
picture collection of friends and relatives, and Johanna
shredded these pictures to bits.
One day Jack and Alta went down to their farm, which
was about five miles from town. They gathered their
things to bring to their Oak City home. They left
Johanna in the care of her older sisters, but the little
stinkbug did not want to be left behind. She got away
from Jean and Faye and followed her mom and dad.
Johanna stayed within sight of her parents until they got
into the cedars below town. Johanna became lost.
Brother Don L. Anderson, an Oak City man, was out
riding his horse and discovered little Johanna wandering in the cedars. He returned her to her sisters before
her parents got home. Many years later, Don Anderson
became bishop in Oak City and served as Johannas
bishop at the time she got married.
The Alldredges gave much away to others. Johanna
remembers an Indian friend of her dad who came each
year with his family. Jack and his friend would walk out
through the garden and gather what was needed.
In exchange, the Indian would give Jack a new pair of
deerskin gloves that his wife had made by chewing the
leather until it was soft. Then she would sew the gloves.
Johanna said she remembered that the Indian women
would never speak while the men were present, but after
the men went to the garden, the Indian woman and her
daughters would visit with her mother.
The House that Jack Built

When Johanna was only a toddler, Jack and Alta had
moved the family into the new home that Jack built
on their Oak City lot. Perhaps Johannas earliest

memory is of her dad driving the cows to their Oak
City home from the farm when they moved into the
house that Jack built.
As Johanna grew, her parents worked hard and employed
their talent for thrift. Within four years, they had
saved $125.00. Altas parents gave her a building lot
next door to their home. Along with the land, they
also received the water shares.
Getting the water shares was a great blessing because
it allowed the family to plant a garden and orchard
on their land. In the spring during high water, they
had extra water; they passed the surplus to Harold
Anderson, a big farmer. He repaid them by letting
Alta water in the daytime and provided hay to feed the
cows of the Alldredges. They always grew a beautiful
vegetable garden and orchard. They sold their goods
to the stores in Delta, and people would come up from
the valley to the Alldredge home.
Jack used railroad ties to build his family a four-room
house. It had one electric light hanging down in each
room. The kitchen had running water that was caught
by a bucket that sat beneath the spigot. The room had
no sink. There was no indoor bathroom.
The family bathed in a #3 galvanized-metal tub by the
kitchen stove. The stove had a door on the side, which
was used to feed the fire. Before church one Sunday
morning, little Johanna leaned against the stove door,
and it burnt her across the chest. She has carried the
scar throughout her life.
They heated the house with wood and coal. Although

central heat was something Alta always wanted, they
never got central heat. Jack took an old iron water
heater that was big, tall and round and sat it outside
the back of the garage. He ran a pipe inside the garage,
where he installed a showerhead.
There were planks of wood on the ground under the
showerhead. The water in the tank, heated by the sun,
supplied warm showers to the family during the summer.
Living arrangements in their new home were different.
The oldest child was given one bedroom. The rest of
the family shared the other bedroom.
The family used an outhouse for toilet facilities, and
an old catalog worked as toilet paper. Johanna learned
about staying dry at night when her older sister Jean
gave her a tip. If Johanna began dreaming of water or
felt cold, she was to wake herself up. It worked!
When Johanna was eight or nine, the family bought
their first refrigerator. Later, when Johanna was in
high school, her dad remodeled the house and added
a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Johanna remembers her dad drawing up the measurements for the
bathroom and ordering it from Sears & Roebuck. The
bathroom came in the mail. Jack put it all together
and installed the new indoor privy and shower.
A New Baby Brother

In January 1939, when Johanna was six years old, the
family was blessed with a baby boy. He was named
William John Alldredge after Grandpa William

Alldredge and his father, John. The family called the
new baby Bill.
Johannas memories of her brother include a time
when Jean was a senior in high school and had a part in
an opera. On the same night as the opera, there was
someones wedding dance at the recreation hall. Alta put
Johanna and Bill to bed then waited for them to go to
sleep. When the children fell asleep, Jack and Alta went
over to the dance. Johanna awoke to discover that she
had been left behind.
When Johanna realized they had been left behind, she
grabbed her little brother out of the bed and headed
into the night. With only their nightclothes on, no coat
for her and no blanket for her brother, she marched
across her grandmas yard, directly below Grandma
Talbots window heading for the recreation center.
As Jack and Alta turned the corner on their way home,
the car lights shined right on their two young children.
They put Johanna and Bill in the car and went back to
their little home. Johanna did not like being left behind.
When Bill was a toddler, Johanna and her sisters were
supposed to be watching him. He fell into an irrigation
ditch. As soon as he was missed, Alta ran down the
ditch and found him caught on the irrigation gate. He
was mostly under water. Alta grabbed him out by his
little feet.
Jean knew CPR, but it was not helping. Mr. Jacobson
was the man irrigating; he said Jean was not doing the
CPR hard enough, so he took over. The water soon

came bubbling out of Bills mouth and nose. He
sputtered and began breathing again. By that evening
when his dad got home from work, Bill was up running
around as if nothing had ever happened.
About a year after the near drowning, Johanna was
babysitting and had a glass lotion bottle propping the
window open. Bill knocked the bottle over, and the glass
broke. It cut his finger so badly, his finger was only
holding on by a little piece of skin. Alta rushed him to
Delta, and the doctor sewed it back together.
Johannas Best Friend, Vonetta

Vonetta Jacobson and Johanna became best friends at
age four. Living only half a block from each other, they
spent countless hours playing together. They would
make playhouses out under the trees.
Their mothers would call them into dinner, many times
before the two girls had even had a chance to play in
their little house. The girls could be seen walking all
around Oak City together.
In the spring after school was out, each morning
Johanna and Vonetta would herd the milk cows out
Lynndyl Road, where the cheat grass was abundantly green along the ditch bank. For a few hours every
morning, they spent time making and playing with
hollyhock dolls and picking leaves from the Locust trees
to do He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.
Vonetta and Johanna
This friendship lasted a lifetime. Wherever their lives

carried them, they always sent birthday cards and made
telephone calls to keep up with one another.
Early School Years

The summer of 1939, before Johanna would enter
school, Dr. Wright came to Oak City and gave preschool health exams to all the children ready to enter
school. During this time, the medical community
thought it medically sound to remove everyones tonsils.
So Johanna and a couple of the other children her age
had their tonsils removed before beginning school.
One day, all the children went to Dr. Walter Wrights
house in Delta, and he removed their tonsils on his
kitchen table. Johanna remembers waking up with a very
sore throat and being so thirsty. The doctors wife had
just served Alta lunch with grape juice. Johanna wanted
some. The doctor told her mom to go ahead and let her
have it, but Johanna would not like it. Of course, she
did not.
When Johanna entered first grade, Oak City had its own
elementary school. There was no kindergarten. The first
through third grades all met in the same classroom with
the same teacher. Mrs. Margaret W. Roper was Johannas
teacher for all three years. There were six other children
in Johannas first grade class.
Johanna remembers reading little books and doing little
activities where they would cut and paste words. The
class learned about trains and then made their own train
out of cardboard. The children were allowed to play in
it each day as they finished their work. Johanna said she
always felt bad for the kids that were slower getting
finished because they did not get to play in that special

train very often.
In the third grade, Johanna was sick. The doctor said that
Johanna was starving in a land of plenty (which meant
that she was a picky eater). He said she needed a lamb
chop and a shot of brandy every day. Since the family
could not afford lamb chops for everyone, Johanna was
treated to a lamp chop and spoonful of brandy each
afternoon until she got better.
Holidays and Seasons

Johannas teacher, Mrs. Roper, was also the Primary
president at church. When they did a play at school or in
Primary, they would practice in both places. Every year
at Christmas time, they would perform a play.
Alta would always sew new nightgowns and a new dress
for Johanna and her sisters for Christmas. They always
wore their new dresses to the Christmas Eve program at
the ward hall.
Oak City had a twenty-foot tree that they decorated
at Christmas. The children marched down from the
stage and circled around the tree. They would sing
Here Comes Santa Claus and sometimes many other
Christmas carols if Santa was late. Santa would come
and, without a word, would give out oranges, candies,
and nuts in little bags to everyone. Most of the time,
Santa would be hired from the nearby town of Lyndyl,
and all the grown-ups had fun guessing his real identity.
Christmas in the Alldredge home was simple. The

children were never allowed to open any gifts until
Christmas morning. Johanna was not allowed to get out
of bed until her dad had a fire started, and the room
was warmed up. They always had hard candy and nuts
on Christmas day.
Alta always made gumdrop cake at Christmas. Even
after Johanna married and had her own family, Johannas
mother would send this cake for Christmas. Years after
Alta passed away, her granddaughter Connie married at
Christmas time, and Johanna made Altas gumdrop cake
to serve at the wedding reception.
On New Years Eve, Jack always brought a box of
chocolates to celebrate the coming New Year.
On Easter Saturday, Johanna and her best friend
Vonetta (and sometimes others) walked the four miles
west of town to the sand dunes. They had fun rolling
eggs down the hills. Johanna would always stop at
Shipley Store on the way and get a package of sweet
rolls that she would include in their lunch. They would
play and then in the late afternoon or evening Johannas
dad would pick them up on his way from work.
Each spring, everyone did his or her cleaning and
clearing, both inside and out. Johannas family would
always trim their orchard and then have a big bonfire
in the road. Everyone would come, play games, and
have fun.
Johanna remembers many celebrations for the Fourth
of July and July 24th. They would make root beer, and
the girls would stay for a slumber party. The party was
always at Johannas house. They would sleep out under
the old willow tree. The Oak City boys always figured
out where the girls were, then came and threw water on
the sleeping girls. Alta would always get mad because
Johannas hair, being in curlers, would not be dry by
morning for the celebration.
July 24th was always a big celebration. Johannas Uncle
Piz was the scoutmaster, and he had the scouts dress up
like Indians. There would be a parade through town; at
the end, they would circle the wagons, and the Indians
would attack. One year, her uncle, dressed as an
Indian, grabbed her foot and scared her. She fled into
the car pulling the float.
Animals and Food

Jack and Alta always had two milk cows and pigs. In the
winter, they would slaughter the pigs. Jack would cure
the hams and bacon with salt. In the fall, Jack always
hunted deer, and Alta would bottle the deer meat. In
the winter, they would hang meat out on the north side
of the house where it would stay frozen. They would
cut off the meat as needed.
To extend the gardens fresh food, the family would
bury the cabbage heads in the ground on the south
side of the house. As they needed a cabbage head, they
would go out and pull one up.
Alta always had chickens. But Johanna wanted to raise
chickens herself. Mother and daughter would order
baby chicks from the catalog. The chicks would arrive

at the post office, and Johanna could hear the box go
peep, peep, peep.
For Sunday dinner every week, the family would eat
chicken. Other than chicken on Sunday and pork or
deer occasionally, the family did not eat a lot of meat.
They were always poor, but as a child, Johanna never
realized that. It was the Depression, which affected
everyone. To Johanna, her family seemed no poorer than
the average family of the time.
Johanna said her mother stored apples in the fruit
cellar. At Christmas, they would scrape the snow back,
go down, and retrieve the apples from the cold storage.
Her Dad would take out his pocketknife and peel the
apple. The family gathered around and watched to see
how long the apple skin would get before it broke.
Johanna said, They would be so cold and luscious; it
was a real treat.
The family always had cats. Once, an old mother cat
chose Jeans hatbox under the bed as the place to have
her kittens. Jean had many beautiful hats and they were
all ruined.
Each evening at nine oclock, Jack routinely wound the
clock, put the cat out, and went to bed. Johanna said,
He would always do it without fail. Another tradition
Johanna remembers was when her Dad came home
from work each evening, she felt it always a treat to
unlace the knee-high boots he always wore.
There was only one time Johanna remembers having a

dog during her childhood years. It was a black lab and
everyone thought he was kind of mean, so Jean and
Orin took the dog to live with them. After Johanna was
married, they had many dogs and cats. They also had
goldfish, a rat, a bird, and seahorses.
Oak City Life

The recreation hall played a large role in the lives of
the Oak City people. Construction began in 1908. At
the time, it was the largest building in Millard County.
The recreation hall became a focal point for socializing
in Oak City. Many wedding receptions, dances, parties,
and community celebrations (including Johannas own
wedding reception) were held at the recreation hall.
In 1935, work began on the swimming pool and an
open-air dance floor, where Johanna attended many
dances and roller-skating events. During the Depression,
this work project began when money was scarce. The
federal money from the Works Progress Administration
(WPA) financed the construction.
The men who lived in the area and depended on WPA
jobs did the work with shovels, picks, wheelbarrows,
and horses. The men dug and hauled the dirt from
the pool site. They also cut and milled the lumber for
the dance floor and concession stand. Johannas dad
worked for the WPA, but he did not work on the pool
and dance floor project. He worked on another project
over by Fillmore.
Growing up, Johanna loved the pool. She enjoyed

swimming there. Bert Roper was the pools caretaker and
often laughed at Johanna because instead of swimming
correctly, Johanna would dog paddle underwater for
long periods.
Among many wonderful memories she holds of this
place is of her baptism. On July 26, 1942, at the Oak City
pool, Johanna was baptized a member of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Leoyd Lovell, a
worthy young man from the community. Johanna was
confirmed by her grandpa, William Alldredge.
Historical Events
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Johanna had her eighth
birthday party. As some of the girls arrived, they told
her that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese.
She ran and told her mother. Word spread fast. By the
end of the day, her oldest sister, Jean, heard on the radio
that the Arizona had been sunk. Phil Jensen, Jeans
fianc, was serving on the Arizona. They did not get
official news of his death for several days.
While Johanna was growing up, Oak City, Utah was
a very small town of about four hundred people.
Everyone was Mormon and many neighbors were
relatives. The Great Depression and the outbreak of
World War II was a time of great struggle and tragedy.
These times also brought this small town together in
celebration.
People were always very patriotic. The flag meant a lot

to the community. At school and church, there were
patriotic programs where the children learned many
songs of patriotism and a feeling of honor for God
and country.
The town lost two of her sons in World War II. When
Rawlin Roper was flying his last mission before coming home, his plane was shot down over Europe. Phil
Finlinson died at Iwo Jima. At school, the community
sold war-bond books.
The children would buy stamps to fill their books, and
when they got $18.50, they could purchase a war bond.
When the war bond matured, it was worth $25.00. Once
a week, Johanna would take a quarter to put money on a
war bond. When Johanna got married, she used her war
bonds to buy her first washing machine.
From 1942 to 1945, the government operated an
internment camp for Japanese people at Topaz, Utah
(about sixteen miles northwest of Delta). Johanna never
went out to the camp, but she remembers that people in
the camp were brought to Delta to shop. Occasionally,
the people were brought up to the Oak City Canyon.
She says she never remembers anyone ever treating
them poorly.
However, Elden (Johannas future husband) remembered
a story his dad told him. Eldens father, Cecil, told about
a man who was Japanese living in the area who worked
on the railroad as a section hand. Cecil said some of
the people riding on passing trains would throw trash
and stuff at this man as he was working. All the men he
worked with knew him to be a very good man, and his

co-workers were mad to see the man who was Japanese
treated so unfairly.
After the war, the government closed the Topaz camp.
Everything from buildings to blankets were sold to
whoever wanted it. Local farmers purchased buildings
to be used for storage. Johannas mother bought two
army cots and two army blankets from the camp. Later,
Johanna was given one of the blankets, which she
eventually cut up and pieced into a quilt.
In 1943, two major events happened in Johannas family.
First, Johanna got a new baby sister. They named her
Margaret Alice. When Margaret was a baby, she came
down with whooping cough. She was very sick and
took lots of tending. Johanna remembers once when
Alta took a break and went next door to visit with
her mother. Faye and Johanna were left to watch after
Margaret. Little Margaret took to a coughing spell, and
Johanna was sent to get her mother to come back.
The second major event occurred when Jean (Johannas
oldest sister) married Orin F. Allred. Orin was from
Deseret and was home on leave from the Navy for the
Christmas holiday. The couple went to San Francisco,
where he was stationed, and were married there.
2
Fourth Grade through
High School
The school combined the fourth and the fifth grade
classes under the same teacher. In fourth grade, Johannas

teacher was Ella Thompson, who married and left the
school before fifth grade commenced.
Miss Arvilla Jacobson stepped in to teach that year.
It was in these years that Johanna mastered her times
tables. She feels that knowing the times tables is very
important and worked hard with her own children to
help them with this memorization.
Johanna was good at memorizing and always had a
strong voice. In the school programs, she always received
large speaking parts, although she was never assigned
singing parts. She said, I had no song in me.
Johanna took piano lessons from Mrs. Shipley. Johanna
said, Although I could practice and play all the notes, it
19
Johanna and Faye show off their new dresses
just never made music. Although Johanna did not seem

to be musically talented, she was good in drama. In fifth
grade, she wrote and directed a three-act play for the
schools Thanksgiving Program.
The school gave the students an hour for lunch each
day. They would walk home to eat. Each morning and
afternoon, they were given recess. When it was cold outside, the children would play in the big central hallway
of the school. On Friday, they would play music and
hold a dance in the schools large hallway.
When talking about her school days, Johanna said,
We also liked hop scotch, marbles and jump rope.
On Primary day, we loved walking the fence that went
around the churchyard. In the winter, we played Fox
and Geese and made snow angels and snowmen. On
the last day of school, the teachers took us on a horse
drawn hay rack to the canyon for a picnic.
When Johanna was in the older grades of elementary
school, much of the summer was spent in 4-H club
activities. We learned to sew and cook. Johanna got
a blue ribbon at the county fair for a blue percale dress
she had sewn. Johanna was proud of her accomplishments in 4-H and the blue ribbon she won.
Johannas voice echoed with pride whenever she speaks
of her talented mother, who was a talented seamstress
and loved arranging flowers. Johanna said that she always
felt that her mother was held back in her talent because
of the time and circumstance of where she lived.
Johanna felt her mother would have made a wonderful
Relief Society president. However, her husband was not
active and was known as the only smoker in Oak City.

Alta was never given the opportunity.
Alta was an excellent seamstress, so Johanna was always
nicely dressed. She received a new dress for Easter,
Christmas, and the Fourth of July. Johanna was also
given two new dresses for school each year. It was in
the seventh grade that Johanna received her first store
bought dress that was ordered out of the catalog. Her
dress was blue and gray.
Johannas Grandparents
In the spring between fourth and fifth grade, Johannas
Grandma Talbot became ill and was in the hospital in
Salt Lake City. During World War II, round-the-clock
nursing was not provided in the hospitals. Families were
expected to help in the care of their loved ones. Alta
took Johanna, Bill, and Margaret to Salt Lake, so that
she could help with the care of her mother.
This trip was Johannas first train ride and her first time
in Salt Lake City. Alta and her children stayed with one
of her sisters who lived in Salt Lake. During their stay,
Alta took the children to see the sights there. When they
got to the square in downtown Salt Lake City, Bill was
petrified of the traffic. He cried and cried, so Alta had
to carry him. Johanna carried Margaret. This happening
cut their downtown adventure short.
Grandma Talbot died about six weeks after their
trip. Grandma and Grandpa Talbot lived next
door. Johanna had spent a lot of time with her. She
remembered as a child thinking how big her dining

room was. Johanna Talbot always had a beautifully set
table with a perfectly pressed tablecloth on the table.
Young Johanna Alldredge always loved getting her
favorite treat of homemade bread with pure cream and
sugar on it from her Grandma Talbot.
Grandma and Grandpa Alldredge lived just down the
road. Johanna recalls walking with her dad in the evenings
to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Alldredge. Johanna
was always a little timid around her Grandma Alldredge,
but she had a baby doll that her granddaughter loved to
play with. Johanna would always climb on her dads lap
and whisper for him to ask if she could play with the
doll. Grandma Alldredge always allowed her to play with
the baby doll.
When it was time to go home, Johanna would return the
doll, and her family would make the short walk home.
Johanna would always rush ahead so she could get
home first and begin milking the cows before her dad
got there.
Johanna never learned how to milk properly, but she
could strip with two fingers and that would get her at
least a taste. Jack would soon be there and take over the
milking but not before Johanna obtained her treat of
fresh warm milk straight from the cow.
Johanna was proud of her family. One day in school,
she was arguing with Fred and declaring that her
Grandpa Alldredge could charm warts off. Her friend
Afton had a wart on her finger and had overheard
the exchange. She was desperate to have her wart gone,
so Afton followed Johanna to ask her more about the

magic. Johanna told her proudly that her Grandpa had
removed many warts.
Johanna took Afton to see her Grandpa and asked him
to charm Aftons wart off. Afton said the following of
the experience: He held my fingers gently, and with his
free hand, he barely touched my wart. He then spit a
tiny bit on two of his fingers, making a low mysterious
mumble. Then squeezing my fingers he asked, Do you
believe this wart will go away? I nodded my head, and
he went back into his house. Johanna told me not to
touch the wart or it would never go away.
Later, at Sunday school, Afton told Johanna she did
not think her grandfather had magic to take off warts.
Johanna said, Youll see. Not long after that interaction,
Afton was collecting an egg, when she looked at her
hand and realized that her wart was gone. Johanna said
she never knew how her Grandpa did it, but she knew
of many warts that he charmed away.
Cousin Cona
Cona was Johannas cousin. Their birthdays are exactly
one month apart Cona, being the oldest. Cona had lived
in California at the time they started school and was
allowed to enter school a year earlier than Johanna was
in Oak City. When Cona came to live in Oak City, she
and Johanna became friends quickly.
Johanna said that Cona had a great love for animals and
enjoyed the outdoors. Johanna remembers Cona climbing
The family in Bryce Canyon (Johanna on far right)
up on the cow shed to watch a birds nest. She spent so

much time up there that the birds actually allowed Cona
to feed the babies.
One summer Johanna and Cona found a large snake

that had been hit in the road. It had a large swelling in
the middle, and they wanted to know what was inside.
She and Cona got an opened can lid and used the sharp
edge to cut it open. There was nothing inside, but the
snake interested them, and so they skinned it.
Cona lived in Oak City only a short time before her
family moved to Delta. After Cona moved, Johanna
remembers going to stay with her and even attending
school for the day with her in Delta.
The Alldredges loved to celebrate things in Oak City
Canyon. They would often camp there. Johanna remembers catching her first fish there. She and Cona went
fishing by the second resort. The creek had washed out,
and it was dark and deep.
The two girls wanted to know how deep it was, so
Johanna stuck her pole in and when she pulled it up
there was a fish on the line. She was very excited and
ran all the way back to their camp at the Big Springs
with the fish still dangling on the line.
The family would bring a quilt or two and sleep out on
the ground. One time, the entire Alldredge clan of eight
or nine kids and their families went camping for a whole
week. Johanna was impressed because her Aunt Lela
had a tent to sleep in. Every morning and evening the
men would go down to milk the cows, and sometimes
they would bring a treat back. Camping in the canyon
was something Johanna loved her whole life.
The Year of 1944

In January 1944, there was another addition to the
family. Johanna became an aunt when Jean had a little
girl, whose name was Gloria Jean Allred. Alta quickly
potty-trained Margaret, so she could give Jean the diapers
for Gloria. This time was during war.
Items, like sugar, rubber, and gas, were rationed. Things
like fabric were even harder to get because most factories
and mills sent everything they produced to support the
war effort. The woman who owned the Oak City store
had some pretty fabric to make an apron, and she let
Alta buy it to make little Gloria a new outfit.
It was in 1944 that Johanna got a paper route delivering
the Deseret News. She was to keep the route for five
years. Most everyone in town took the newspaper, so
she rode her bike to every end of town.
Johanna sold enough papers to earn a trip to California.
However, since she was the only girl to win, the paper
would not allow her to go on the trip and instead gave
her a nice pair of roller skates.
When she first started her route, the papers would be
delivered to the post office. Johanna had a bench where
she left the papers and a list of subscribers. As people
picked up their mail at the post office, they would get
their paper and cross their name off the list.
In the afternoon, Johanna would pick up the remaining
papers and deliver them to the proper houses. Johanna
recalls, The houses needing home delivery always

seemed to be the houses farthest away.
Later, the newspaper started delivering the papers
directly to her house. Johanna then delivered each paper
directly to the subscribers homes.
Once a month, she would go to each customers house
and collect $1.30. In 19481949, the last winter she
delivered papers there was a big snow. It was piled up to
the telephone lines. To get all the papers delivered, her
whole family helped. They would each take a block.
Johanna delivered the papers wearing her school dress.
Johanna would get home and her legs would be frozen
with big red marks at the top of her rubber boots. That
next spring she gave up her route. With the money
she made from her route, she bought a new bike, an
Underwood typewriter (that she still has in 2014), and
four war bonds.
Sixth through Twelfth Grade

In the sixth grade, Herman C. Bement was Johannas
teacher. The kids were very mean to him. The students
started rumors about him. For example, they said
Bement carried a gun with him. But Johanna said this
rumor was false. Johanna never said anything because
she liked him. Bement was a good teacher, and he really
went the extra mile for the students.
One time, Bement put a preying mantis and a black
widow in a bottle, and the students watched the mantis
eat the black widow. Another time, the students watched

a mouse suffocate in a bottle.
The class rode in the back of a flatbed cattle truck with
sideboards all the way to Salt Lake City. They toured
the city, and they visited the zoo, the state capital, the
airport, the temple grounds, and the park.
Most of these sites they had never seen before. The
class even got their picture taken and put in the
Deseret News. They had a great time, and they packed
it all into one day.
During the year, Mr. Bement even took them to the
movies sometimes in Delta. It was in this year that Nola
Christensen died from a ruptured appendix. There were
only five girls in the class, so Nolas death hit her classmates hard and was a very sad experience for all.
In sixth grade, Johanna walked several miles south of
town to a big party. There was a big bonfire, and everyone played games like Run Sheepie Run and Hide
and Seek and had lots of fun. She stayed out way too
late. Her parents came and found her as she was on her
way home.
In seventh grade, her teacher was Thomas K. Pratt, and
that year was full of Zip and Pop, which just means
that they fought and had a hard time getting along.
Johanna was one of the oldest girls in elementary school,
and all the oldest girls loved to show their authority. They
decided the top coatracks were only for the oldest girls.
We fought the younger girls all year long. Hair pulling
by the coat racks was a common occurrence.
In seventh grade, Brent Lovell took Johanna to her

first formal dance. They went to the Delta High School
Junior Prom.
In school, the girls always had to wear dresses. It was
not until high school that they were allowed to wear jeans
and then only on Friday. All the girls would wear them
rolled up to their knees.
Johanna always wore her best Sunday dress made by
her mom. She attended church and held the calling of
Sunday School Secretary. From eighth grade until she
graduated high school, she served in this calling and did
not attend class; instead, she collected the class rolls.
Church began with early morning priesthood for the
men and then Sunday school at 10:00 in the morning.
At 7:30 on Sunday evening, the ward gathered again for
sacrament meeting.
The church had a big bell. It rang one half hour before
each meeting to signal the community that it was time
to change and go to meeting. When Johanna was growing up, the church held Primary, mutual, Relief Society
work meeting, and choir practice during the week. The
bell rang even for the weekday meetings.
Johannas school class was the first bussed to Delta for
eighth grade. From eighth through twelfth grade, she
rode the bus. Today, all the children from Oak City are
bussed to Delta for school.
In ninth grade, Johanna participated in Freshie Day.
All the freshmen dressed up. She dressed like Blondie
from the funny papers and the tenth grade students fed
the freshmen baby food mixed with awful things like
red peppers and garlic. Another day the whole school
dressed up for Girls Day. On this day, everyone
dressed up like a little girl.
Johanna was naturally left-handed, but she was taught
to do things with her right hand. She was ambidextrous.
She said she was never very good with either hand. She
remembers having a very hard time learning to sweep the
floor. Johanna always hated PE after the teacher forgot
that she batted left-handed and accidentally hit Johanna in
the head trying to show her how to hit the ball.
Johannas Algebra teacher could never explain Algebra
to her. She was talking in class one day wearing her pep
club uniform. The teacher told her if she wanted to
keep the uniform, she had better zip her mouth. If she
kept her mouth shut, he would give her a B for the class.
She did, and she got her B.
In the tenth grade, tragedy struck again with the loss
of two more Delta classmates. One died of leukemia,
and the other student was hit by a car. It was in this year
that Johanna became close friends with Afton Lovell.
Johanna, Vonetta, and Afton had a great time together.
She had countless experiences with her friends from
Oak City that winter.
Once, Johanna was with Fred Anderson in his Jeep
chasing Brent Lovell in his Model A Ford. Fred made
a sharp U-turn, and Johanna flew out of the Jeep and
landed on her back on the gravel road. She was not hurt
badly, but it peeled all the skin off her back.
The hard winter of 194849, Fred Anderson dropped

out of school to help feed the range cattle, but he still
had time to play. Johanna said, We were the first ones
to make it up to the resort in the canyon.
His parents drove a new Chrysler car. He got it one
night, and they went to Delta to the movies. He brought
his piggy bank and used pennies, dimes, and nickels
to pay for the tickets. Another time, Fred and Johanna
went to the sinks (an overflow lake northwest of Oak
City) for a canoe ride. The water was a little choppy, and
it made Johanna sick to her stomach. She says she never
really liked boat rides after that canoe ride.
Johanna recalls that same winter when Julian Finlinson
fixed a bobsled pulled by a horse, and we all had lots of
fun in the snow riding on that sled.
During the Easter break of Johannas tenth grade year,
she traveled with Afton and Aftons sister and brotherin-law to Lehmans cave in Nevada. This trip was the
first time Johanna had ever been outside the state of
Utah. She had lots of fun.
Throughout Johannas school days, she participated
in the activities at the high school. She was very active
in the Pep Club. She said of her junior prom, They
chose a patriotic theme, My Own America, instead
of a dance song. The whole Junior Class spent a week
decorating the gym. She recalled the ceiling beautifully
decorated as the American Flag. She had so much fun
preparing for the prom that her actual date with Antone
Christiansen was anticlimactic.
Her senior year Johanna was elected to the Harvest Ball

Royality as an attendant. Along with being very socially
active in school, she also did well in academics. She was
on the honor roll.
Jean and Faye at Dixie College

Jack and Alta wanted their children to experience
college, but because of money, they each could go for
only one year. When it came time for Jean and Faye to
go, they went to Dixie in St. George. Jean attended in
the early 1940s. While Jean was there, she met a girl who
was her look-alike and was born on the same day. It was
so uncanny that the Tribune published their pictures in
the paper.
Mrs. Roper, Johannas teacher for first, second, and third
grade, took the paper and clipped it out for Alta. Alta
sent Johanna to get it. Johanna did as she was asked, but
on the way, back she stopped along the ditch bank to
play. The clipping got all wet and muddy. Johanna got a
spanking for being so irresponsible.
When Faye went for her year at Dixie, Johanna rode
the bus down to stay with her for a few days at the
end of the school year. Johanna deplored the intense
southern Utah heat. It was so hot that all she wanted
to do was lay in front of a fan all day. Johanna said she
could never imagine anyone living in such a hot place.
Little did she know then that she would end up rearing
her family in the hot desert of Las Vegas. Jack and Alta
Johanna as a teenager
came with Bill and Margaret to collect Johanna. On the

way home, they stopped in Bryce Canyon.
After spending her year at Dixie, Faye returned home
and got a job as a carhop in Delta where she met Ted
Clark. While Faye and Ted dated, Johanna occasionally
went with them to the movies.
In October 1950, Faye and Ted married. Ted was
Catholic. It worried her parents that Faye married out
of the church, but Ted proved to be a wonderful lifelong companion.
Patriarchal Blessing
A few months before Johannas sixteenth birthday on
October 22, 1949, she received her Patriarchal Blessing.
A group of kids around her age traveled to Hinckley,
where the Patriarch resided.
Patriarch Charles R. Woodbury laid his hands on
her head and gave her a blessing. Johanna was told
of a great mission set out for her and told of her
leadership abilities: she would be a great teacher and
leader of women. Johanna remembers thinking that
Patriarch Woodbury and his wife were really old. Sister
Woodbury served as her husbands scribe. She wrote
the blessing in long hand as he spoke. Not many days
after her blessing, Johanna received a copy, handwritten
in pencil, in the mail.
The prominent impression held by the youthful Johanna
was that of the patriarchs age. After a life as the mother
of four daughters and having held myriad leadership

callings in Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society,
Johanna is amazed at the patriachs spiritual foresight.
3
College and Marriage
In her senior year Johanna was awarded an academic
scholarship to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. At Snow,

Johanna lived in a three-story dormitory. One of the
good memories Johanna has from her year at Snow is
that she and her roommates would often invite the boys
over to eat waffles. The boys would bring the ingredients,
and Johanna would cook the waffles.
Johanna did not go home to Oak City very often.
However, her roommates, who came from towns near
the college, went home frequently. One particular weekend Johanna found herself alone in her dorm room
while her roommates were visiting home. Suddenly one
of the girls from downstairs frantically knocked at the
door looking for help.
The four girls that lived downstairs had decided to
have a drinking party. None of the girls had ever
37
Johannas senior picture in high school
drunk alcohol before and wanted the experience. The

girl that was at Johannas door asking for help had been
designated the one to remain sober. The other girls
got drunker than drunk, and the sober girl became

exasperated and in need of help to handle the situation.
When Johanna entered the apartment below hers, the
stench of puke smacked her in the face. Bathtubs, toilets,
and sinks were covered in vomit.
Johanna left and returned with coffee to sober up her
schoolmates, but one girl refused to drink it. She said,
I cannot drink it. My bishop said for me to never
drink coffee.
Work at the Bank

After a year at Snow College, Johanna left school and
moved to Salt Lake City. She rented a room in the
Beehive House for one month to look for a job. She
did not find one right away and found that she did not
really like the city. After a month, she came home and
applied for work at the power company.
The assistant manager, Ferrin Lovell, of the First
Security Bank in Delta, decided the bank needed help.
He came down to the house and asked her to come
to work for the bank. Johanna decided to take the offer
because there were other girls working there, while she
would be the only female working at the power company.
Her dad would drop her at the bank in the morning and
pick her up each evening. Most of the time Johanna
would finish first. Sometimes, when the books did
not balance right away, her dad would have to wait.
Cokes were a dime at Mercer Drug Store, but Jack
never carried any money. He would always say, Shan,

do you have a dime for a coke? She would always get
him a drink.
As Johanna grew up, her family always called her Shan,
but sometimes people would try to call her Jo. She
would never allow people to call her Jo because there
was a man who lived across the road whose name was
Joe, and he always scared her. When she went to work
at the bank, they all called her Jo and from then on the
nickname stuck.
The Days of the Old West was a big celebration in
Millard County. Each year there were rodeos and parades
to commemorate the state founders. One year the bank
chose Johanna to ride on their float.
While working at the bank, Johanna saved her money
and purchased a cedar chest. It was blonde wood with a
top opening chest and a large drawer at the bottom. It
would hold many of her treasures over her lifetime.
In addition, while working at the bank, she bought a set
of brown Samsonite luggage, fine china, and silverware.
The china, painted with a pale green stalk of bamboo,
was rimmed with silver. The silverware had an orchid on
the handle and was used at many special family occasions
over the years.
The Courtship
On many evenings, Johanna and her friends would
drag main. This meant they would drive up and down
Deltas Main Street after work, their goal being that of

meeting other young people.
Nella Styler, who worked with Johanna, told her friend,
I know who to get you with.
Johanna balked, Oh, no you dont!
Nella had grown up with Elden Cahoon, a tall lanky boy
known as Ellie to his friends.
One wintery day, Johanna met Elden Cahoon when he
stopped by the bank to cash his war bonds. Elden had
just gotten back home in January 1954. He served in the
Korean War. While in the service, he had purchased war
bonds as a way to save money.
The former Army medic used his savings to buy a new
blue Studebaker truck. The truck was the basic model,
which came with no heater. When he got home, he
worked at the seed plant in Delta.
A week or so after Elden met Johanna, Nella was
supposed to give Jo a ride home from work. Instead,
Nella made an excuse and arranged for Elden to drive
Johanna to Oak City. Johanna directed him through the
cold dark Utah evening. They chatted about nothing in
particular as they got acquainted.
Elden drew his truck up in front of the Alldredge
home and switched off the engine. The young couple
lost track of time as they talked inside the unheated
truck. Finally, Elden walked Johanna to her front door
and said goodnight.
Nella, Jo, and their girlfriends continued socializing by

dragging Main Street. Elden and his truck were part
of those making the circuit up and down Main, but
soon Elden began looking especially for the young girl
with the beautiful brown eyes from Oak City, and their
courtship began.
In February, Elden invited Johanna to his homecoming
party. Nella and Johanna went shopping for the occasion
in Salt Lake City. Johanna bought a pretty, navy blue
dress and some white sandals to wear to the party. The
homecoming was held at the Oasis chapel. A local
orchestra played.
For one of the few times in their relationship, Ellie
and Jo danced. Johanna recalls, The only time we
danced together was at the homecoming and our
wedding reception. Well, a few times, we went to Billy
Vanns and danced.
By the spring, Eldens Studebaker knew its way to the
Alldredge house in the tiny town of Oak City. They
often went to the movies followed by dinner at the caf.
By summer, Ellie and Jo were an item. They went to
Provo for bowling and a Chinese dinner. These were
first time events for Johanna.
The Engagement
Then one night in August, as they sat in the Studebaker,
in front of the Oak City Chapel, Elden asked Johanna
to marry him. Johanna remembers, I kinda thought he
was going to ask me, but that was a big step. She told
him that she would think about it.
In the fall, Ellie took her to the horse races in Ely,
Nevada and then afterwards they went to Lehmans
Cave. They went to the Ute Stampede Rodeo. Johanna
said, I told Faye I was in love, and I was going to marry
him even if his ears were big. On Johannas birthday,
December 8, 1954, she said yes and accepted Ellies ring.
On New Years Eve, Elden came to the bank to pick
Johanna up from work to go to the New Years Eve
Dance. She was not quite ready, and he rested on the
banks sofa because he was not feeling well. Johanna was
soon ready, and they went to the dance but not for long
because Elden was feeling sick.
The next morning the Oak City telephone operator
came by the Alldredge home, because they did not have
a phone, to give Johanna a message that Elden would
not be coming by that morning as planned. Ellie was in
bed with the chicken pox.
He was very sick; Johanna went to see him. This visit
was the first time Johanna had ever seen him unshaved,
and she was surprised to see a face full of red whiskers.
The Wedding
On June 2, 1955, Johanna and Elden were married in
the Manti Temple at Manti, San Pete, Utah. Eldens
parents, his sister Ula, and her husband, Don Day, were
there on the grooms side. Johannas Uncle Cloyd, Aunt
Elden and Johannas wedding reception
Emma, Jos sister Jean, and Jeans husband, Orin Allred,

were there for the bride. Cecil Cahoon, Eldens dad, and
Don Day served as witnesses.
The reception was held that evening at the Oak City
Recreation Hall. They had arranged for someone to take
pictures. However, after taking only a few shots, the
photographer ran out of film.
Before he returned, Elden and Johanna departed from
the reception. They ended up with only one or two
pictures of the entire wedding, which was always a
source of regret for Johanna.
The shivaree was a big tradition in this area. The brides
and grooms friends would try to separate the couple
on the wedding night and play a dirty trick on them.
Johanna was worried about what their friends would do.
Despite what their friends intended to do, Elden did not
allow his wife to be separated from him, so their friends
ended up taking them together to a steak dinner and
keeping them out most of the night.
The Honeymoon & Ever After

After leaving their friends, the newlyweds went to
Eldens house and traded the Studebaker for his dads
car. Then they drove to St. George through Richfield.
After the wedding, the reception, the shivaree, and the
drive to St. George in a car with no air conditioning,
they were exhausted as they checked in to the motel.
They went to their room and fell asleep. After their

nap, they cleaned up and left to go to dinner. The
desk clerk tried to rent them another room because
the clerk did not recognize them from earlier.
The next morning breakfast was memorable to
Johanna as it was the first time she had ever eaten out
for breakfast in a cafe.
Their marriage was a happy one, and they were married
for fifty-three years.
Elden and Johannas wedding anniversary

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Project 3

This book is called The Girl from Oak City

On December 8, 1933, a third daughter was born to Jack and

Written by Connie Cahoon Seawell

Connie Seawell, Author

Hollingsworth & Co. Provo

Copyright 2014 Hollingsworth & Co.

The Girl from Oak City

Printed in the United States of America

The Early Years................................................................................................1

Fourth Grade through High School............................................................19

College and Marriage......................................................................................37

This history was written by Connie Cahoon Seawell, daughter of

Johannas father was Jack Alldredge. Johannas mother

During the Depression, Jack, Alta, and Cliff (Jacks

2 The Girl from Oak City

preparation for leaving on his mission. Fortunately,

The Girl from Oak City 3

Johanna as a baby in front of her home

4 The Girl from Oak City

The House that Jack Built

The Girl from Oak City 5

on their Oak City lot. Perhaps Johannas earliest

6 The Girl from Oak City

They heated the house with wood and coal. Although

A New Baby Brother

The Girl from Oak City 7

William John Alldredge after Grandpa William

8 The Girl from Oak City

CPR hard enough, so he took over. The water soon

Johannas Best Friend, Vonetta

The Girl from Oak City 9

Vonetta (left) and Johanna (right)

This friendship lasted a lifetime. Wherever their lives

10 The Girl from Oak City

Early School Years

The Girl from Oak City 11

finished because they did not get to play in that special

Holidays and Seasons

12 The Girl from Oak City

Christmas in the Alldredge home was simple. The

The Girl from Oak City 13

Animals and Food

14 The Girl from Oak City

baby chicks from the catalog. The chicks would arrive

The Girl from Oak City 15

There was only one time Johanna remembers having a

Oak City Life

16 The Girl from Oak City

Growing up, Johanna loved the pool. She enjoyed

The Girl from Oak City 17

People were always very patriotic. The flag meant a lot

18 The Girl from Oak City

worked with knew him to be a very good man, and his

The school combined the fourth and the fifth grade

classes under the same teacher. In fourth grade, Johannas

20 The Girl from Oak City

The Girl from Oak City 21

just never made music. Although Johanna did not seem

22 The Girl from Oak City

active and was known as the only smoker in Oak City.

The Girl from Oak City 23

remembered as a child thinking how big her dining

24 The Girl from Oak City