The Autobiography of Ruth Tagg Caley

even after an operation. Well four months went by and John was still down on the couch. Heslept there and ate there and when he needed to go to the toilet he would scoot along on his rump,come back exhausted to the couch. I tried to help him but John was an independent person andrather stubborn at times. He said he needed the exercise. The church men came to see him and Ifollowed them out to the gate and said, “Do you think John will ever walk again?” They shooktheir heads and said it doesn’t look like it in his condition, being lame before that time.The doctor came often and one day he said to David, “Well boy, looks like we have yourfather’s legs to a place now where we could take both legs off and put him some new artificialones on.” David went cold and said, “Mother, I don’t like that doctor.” (I didn’t either, sayingthat to a small boy.) Mac came one day and said, “John, I have come to take you for a ride. Youhaven’t been out for a long time.” So he picked John up and said, “My! You are heavier than Ithought. You must weigh a ton.” John couldn’t even use crutches. He said you have to haveone good foot in order to be able to use a crutch.Nobody ever thought John would walk again, but the doctor used to come any time, evenat 2 a.m. and wake the whole household up. The police followed the doctor at 2 a.m. to our placeand said, “Oh, it’s you is it Doc. OK. I’ll let you off this time.” The cop was a close friend ofDoc. All the shots John ever had didn’t seem to help him. So I think most people gave up. Ididn’t know what to expect because John had that polio years before and it was hard to knowwhat would be the outcome. Anyway John got over it. But the following year he got it again atthe same month, but since then we haven’t known any more about it and it was long forgotten.I remember once little Billy McDonald jumped on John’s back and said “get up horsie.”He thought John was playing with him. The whole community was very much surprised to seeJohn up and going again. It was in the year of about 1947. Time does not stand still and we get alittle older every year and some get thinner (me) from work and worry, while others put onweight (John). In the years that pass by we still keep going the best we can. 1948 my motherpassed away. I went to her funeral in Canada. I went with Steve and Jean.It was about the year of 1949 that our ward bishopric decided to get the young teenagersand their leaders to go on a trip for about a week. They would take their own bedding and taketheir supply of food, or pay five dollars, or a large size ham. They would go to Yellowstone Parkfirst, then on to Idaho and to the Teton Mountains to Jackson Hole as the place was called. Whoall was going? The M. I. A. and their teachers and, of course, the bishopric. At that time I wasteaching the first class in Mutual and I was asked to be in charge of five girls that had graduatedfrom Primary. My son John was also going. He was in another class. He would take his smalltent along for himself and his boy friend. We would be traveling in trucks and cars. The truckswould take our bed rolls and food supplies. There were fifty-two of us going and looked forwardto a good time. It seemed like an awful long ride from Orem to Yellowstone and were all tiredand hungry.The men put up some tents and most everyone had a sleeping bag. They told us do notfasten the tent flaps because if bears got in they panic if they can’t get out again. We were settledRuth Tagg Caley pg 46