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| Giles Vanderhoof. |
Giles , with his wife, Artie Vanderhoof, and their family,
have the distinct privilege of being present at the inception of the branch. Giles’
place in history as the first to be ordained a priest, the first Sunday School
Superintendent and the first member branch president exalts him as a true
pioneer saint. His wife, Artie was the first Sunday School Secretary, the very
first convert and first Relief Society president. She served diligently for 12
years in that capacity. Their children were among the first to be blessed by
the missionaries. Estella, their daughter was the first female of the branch to
serve a mission.
Giles
often spoke of the branch milestones as he bore fervent testimony during the
next several decades. As time went on Giles’ insistent voice of reflective
appreciation gradually faded. Today, the recollections of their names and
contributions have been swept into the undertow of current events rather than
being revered and honored as the initiates of the branch.
In
acknowledgement of their relevance as the founding saints of the church in 1910,
a short history of the family is given to acquaint their contributions for all future
generations.
The following Vanderhoof information was
taken from branch records, family records, journals, interviews and
remembrances given by the family.
Giles
Edgar Vanderhoof was born June 19, 1879 in North Ogden, Utah Territory with
strong Mormon pioneer heritage. He came
from a large, tempestuous, ranching family.
His fifteen brothers and sisters grew up with strong opinions and didn’t
defer those opinions even if it meant a heated argument or fists.
Young
Giles was educated at the North Ogden “Common” school and graduated on June 16,
1884. He had three years of high school
and two years at Weber
Stake Academy.
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| Giles is Second from the Left. |
At
age 23, Giles began his railroad career as a locomotive fireman in the Salt
Lake Division of Southern Pacific. He
was the fireman on the second train to cross the new trestle work for the Lucin
cut-off in 1903. [The Lucin Cutoff
railroad line and trestle,
crossed the Great
Salt Lake in Utah.
Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February
1902 and March 1904 across Promontory
Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory
Summit where the Golden Spike was driven in 1869. By going west across
the lake from Ogden, Utah to Lucin, Utah,
it cut off 43 miles and avoided curvatures and grades.] (Wikipedia information)
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| Artie's Graduation Picture |
In
May of 1903, he met a beautiful young woman working as a typist in the Ogden
State Bank; her name was Artie Ethel Wilson.
She was born on January
10, 1882 in Frisco, Beaver
County , Utah Ogden
When
she was old enough to attend school she was enrolled in Ogden’s Gordon Grammar
School then went on to high school at Ogden City High, graduating June 4, 1857.
She enjoyed parties, dances and occasional sweethearts.
When
Giles and Artie started courting, Artie’s family did not approve of the
relationship. They felt that Giles, the cowboy, did not measure up to her
family’s educational standards. Obviously,
her family held little sway. For the next two years, they had a wonderful
courtship which culminated with their marriage on May 25, 1903. Their first home was in Odgen, Utah.
It
was while living in Ogden their home was blessed with a baby boy. Lee was born February
2, 1904. Then a few months later in
August 1905, a baby girl; but this one God called back to be with Him the next
day.
Giles
was promoted to Locomotive Engineer on January 4, 1907 and sent to Sparks,
Nevada to work the switch engine of the Southern Pacific. He made occasional
trips back to Ogden to be with his young family; being separated disheartened
them both.
It
was during this lonely time apart, on April 30, 1907, Artie was sent a tiny
girl they named Bernice. Six months
after Giles was transferred, Artie decided to make a home for her husband and
unite their family again. She bade farewell to family and friends in Ogden Sparks
The
family lived for three years in a little home at 1610 A Street where their
daughter, Lucille Maud was born on October 10, 1909. They would then move to 531 8th
Street, later named Pyramid Way, where four more children were born.
Two
months before the church membership of 30 people met in the Baxter’s home for
the first time, Artie and Giles were blessed with a daughter they named Lucille.
Her life was short, for she lived only 10 years.
The
Mormon missionaries arrived in Sparks, December of 1909. The following month,
January 4, 1910, Giles and Artie had their three children blessed by the
elders. In February, Giles would be set
apart as the Sunday School Superintendent. The first Sunday School was held in
their home. The missionaries proceeded to teach Artie the gospel, who embraced
it with all her heart. On March 12, 1910
Artie became the first convert baptism.
She was baptized in an irrigation ditch, near Oddie Boulevard, between 8th
and 9th streets in Sparks.
Each month of their new church activity built stepping stones for a
lifetime of service and devotion.
There
were frequent changes of the presiding missionary elder during the next year making
it a struggle to keep the branch going. By March 26, 1911, Giles was given
responsibility for the little group of saints as the presiding elder. Giles
continued to be the Sunday School Superintendent, as well as the presiding
elder until the branch had grown sufficiently strong to be reorganized in 1919
with Giles as the official branch president.
The branch included a vast area which not only took in the Reno area,
but the territory from the California state line east to Wells, Nevada. The area included Fallon, where he especially
loved to work with the Indians – his beloved Lamanites as he referred to
them. President Vanderhoof baptized
several during the early years of the branch.
Giles
labored strenuously as he worked on his switch engine seven days a week (very
few holidays or vacation times) yet never neglected any of his church
duties. Very early in the morning each
Sunday, Giles would take his daughter Bernice and climb the steep stairs to the
lodge room at the rear of the dance hall at Robinson’s Hall. There, the pungent odor of stale beer and
cigars from the lodge meeting the night before were so overpowering that it was
difficult to conduct meetings. The
church members sat around big tin tubs that had the residue of beer and cigars
inside and out of them from the previous night. Giles, with broom and mop, cleaned
up the vile mess while little Bernice shivered in the cold air from the open windows
necessary to air the place out. Then he
would hold Sunday School.
During
this time there was no one to play the piano for the singing portion of Sunday
School. One Sunday morning, the first counselor, Peter L. Ferguson, picked
Bernice up and sat the little girl on the piano stool insisting she play for
them. He kissed her cheek and said, “Of
course you can do it, kid!” She was very
frightened but without Pete, she said, “I never could have made it! I will
never forget our first song that day ---‘Catch the Sunshine.’ “From then on, I covered that seat all my
growing up years.”
Next
to his little family, Giles’ greatest love was his church, his garden and his
Rhode Island Red chickens. He took great
pride in his garden. He always had early
peas and new potatoes which Artie cooked to perfection; fresh green onions,
lettuce, radishes, etc. They shared the produce with everyone, especially the
hungry missionaries.
President
Vanderhoof so diligently studied the scriptures, that none could inquire as to
any Biblical or other church subject matter and immediately be shown not only
the page but have it quoted chapter and verse.
His study and knowledge of his religion was unequaled.
Giles
was known to grab his Bible from home then cross the street to the Catholic
Church. He loved to talk with the
priests about the scriptures until they grew weary of him and refused to answer
the door when he’d ring.
By
September 14, 1911
another little girl was sent to the family.
This one was named Phoebe June, for Artie’s mother
Artie
had been a member of the church about three years when she and Giles had the
privilege of going to the temple on October 23, 1913 to be sealed to each other and their five
children. The last three children would
be born under the covenant.
In
the summer of 1914, Lee, the oldest child and only son at the time, was invited
to spend the summer with his Vanderhoof grandparents on their ranch in
Idaho/Utah. (The state line ran between their barn and house.)
Bernice
remembers, “I was very small, and Mama had told me it was my bedtime. But I kept walking around Lee until Mama had
to tell me a second time. I whispered to
her, “But I wanna kiss him goodbye.” Lee
made a face and said, “Aw, I don’t kiss girls,” but Mama made him kiss me and I
was so happy. It is sad, because the
next time I kissed him it was on his icy-cold forehead, as Daddy held me up to
do so in the mortuary in Odgen, Utah.”
On
August 11, the family received tragic news that Lee lost his life in a terrible
accident. As Grandpa Vanderhoof was building a new home that summer, he and
Lee, made a trip to Tremonton, Utah, for building supplies. For their return
trip they planned to stay overnight at the Dilly Ranch. Before arriving at
their destination Lee was killed by three drunken men in an automobile.
Grief-stricken,
the family was grateful they had the gospel to comfort them and most grateful
for the knowledge they would have the privilege of seeing their son again.
Later,
little sister Lucile, nearly ten years of age was taken to Saint Mary’s
Hospital in Reno
On
February 11, 1916, Giles and Artie were again endowed with another choice
spirit, a baby boy whom they lovingly named Giles Leon. He, in return for their
loving care and teaching, was a faithful and devoted son who magnified his
Priesthood. He later served in the
bishopric in Sparks as well as in Reno.
On
October 21, 1920, one more baby boy was given to Artie and Giles, this one they
named Melvin, after a dear, beloved missionary they grew fond of.
On
April 28, 1932, sorrow entered their home again; twenty one year old Phoebe had
been called back by God. Now they had lost four out of their eight children.
All
of the old-time missionaries knew the Vanderhoof home well. Always dining with the family and sometimes
living there as well. Artie seldom prepared dinner for her family only, they always
had a guest, or guests. The missionaries loved her dearly, and vice versa.
Artie
and Giles made the missionaries a “home away from home.” They thrived on Giles’ big garden, his
raspberry and gooseberry patch, from which Artie made delicious pies, jam, etc.
. . She’d make a pie, along with the lightest of biscuits, as she prepared the
main meal. Everyone loved her fried chicken.
Giles would kill two Rhode
Island
It
was from their little home, on May 13, 1938, that the family joyfully sent
their baby sister, Stella, on her California Mission and welcomed her home just
before Christmas in 1939.
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| Giles and Artie's 50th Wedding Anniversary |
The Vanderhoof’s daughter, Bernice reflects about their
home, “There was much laughter and gaiety in our home, parties and meetings
galore. My brother Giles and his wife
Floral were married in the parlor by our father, Giles. The gala 50th wedding celebration
for the folks had the walls of that little old home bulging. In days long gone, the folks had oyster parties,
taffy pulls, charades and worlds of fun parties. At one of them, coats were piled high on my
bed and as I went to retire, there was still a baby there. In the excitement, Linnie Rossiter had gone,
but forgotten to take her baby!”
Bernice
continues, “I remember when a very small, Sunday School was held in one of the
various halls at Christmas time. There
was a beautiful fir tree with lighted candles included in its decoration –that
was before bulbs were used. I didn’t know
my Daddy was the Santa until, as he reached across a lighted candle for a gift,
the white cotton on the cuff of his suit caught on fire. Oh, my, what a frightening hubbub!”
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| Giles Vanderhoof and Missionary Companion |
One
by one all the children were married and Artie and Giles were left alone. After 43 years Giles retired from the
railroad. Then in October, 1945 Giles was thrilled to receive a call to serve
an 18-month mission in Minnesota for the church. Artie sustained him in his mission wholeheartedly. At the end of Giles’ mission, using her
Engineer’s Railway System pass, Artie went back to Minnesota to meet him. On
the way home they enjoyed a visit with their Vanderhoof Michigan relatives and
genealogy research.
As
the years went by, Giles health began to fail rapidly. Their son, Giles Leon and his wife, asked his
folks to live with them so they could assist in their care. Residing for 50
years in one house made it hard to leave their home full of cherished memories.
After
enduring a long illness, Giles’ frail body succumbed on December 18, 1960. He passed
away at age 81 to be reunited with friends and loved ones on the other side of
the veil. Artie lived another twelve years. She died August 10, 1972 in
Livermore, California.
Their
footsteps can now be known and firmly planted among the stalwart pioneers and
saints into perpetuity.
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