Suzanne TaggartFollow

Date Collected

Fall 11-26-2018

Place item was collected

North Logan, Ut

Informant

Duane Chadwick

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Duane George Chadwick is my maternal grandfather. He was born in La Grande, Oregon in the year 1925. His parents moved to Weiser, Idaho when he was very young and purchased a farm. Their home did not have running water or electricity until he was 14 years old. Many of his memorable stories happened on and around his family’s farm.

Context

My grandfather currently lives in North Logan, Utah. He has always been a great story teller. Often, when he tells his stories, they are told so vividly that I can easily imagine what it was like to live on his family’s farm, far away from civilization. He really loves his parents and siblings and has great respect for them. This is obvious, as he tells his stories which are filled with love for his family and the past. They were not wealthy farmers, but their intelligence and hard work made their home life very rich. Many people of all ages, have heard and enjoyed my grandpa’s stories. He has told his stories at various church activities, the Lyric Theater, at Utah State University, as well as other venues. His stories kept his audiences captivated as he accompanied his memories with musical renditions on his musical saw, harmonica, guitar, and piano. Now, that he is on the brink of 94 years old, he usually tells his stories to his family. His descendants gather together and enjoy him sharing his memories from his colorful and powerful past.

Text

My dad purchased three sows at the auction. His plan was that he was going to raise a lot of pigs and these sows were pregnant and expecting to deliver little babies. Dad gave one of them to the kids and we were going to be in business, in the pig business (clears throat) and a pig, when it has babies, has eight or ten at a time and eight months later they are 200 pounds (chuckles) and you sell them for bacon. Kind of sad, but that’s the way you do it. Anyway, a, let’s see, where was I headed with this. Oh, after we’d had them three or four days, my pig didn’t look, the one he’d given the boys, didn’t look healthy and it didn’t eat well. And it got sick and died. And that was our first sad experience of ‘crop’ failure. So, I’m not in the pig business today, thank goodness.

Texture

Grandpa was sitting in his recliner. He laughed quite a bit while telling this story because it had some humorous parts that he remembered.

Course

ENGL 2210

Instructor

Lynne S. McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G7: Marriage and Family

EAD Number

3.10.2.215

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