I received a number of envelopes, documents, and photos from some cousins living in Arizona. Patricia Trimble and Twila Lemmons are the daughters of Golden Rulon Andra, brother to my Colleen Mary Andra.

As I worked through some of the photos and papers I came upon this document. It is the original. A thick vellum like paper with the handwriting written on it. I sat down and stared at it for a very long time. I tried to imagine the day. I imagined which of the sealing rooms in the Salt Lake Temple this sealing took place in 1920. I don’t know. But 10 March 1920 was a day a long life and large family formally began for William “Bill” and Mary Andra. They would both live for another 70 years. 12 children, 46 grandchildren, and many more descendants. Most of those years were spent near Preston and Whitney, Idaho. Both are buried in Whitney.

Alvin Fielding Smith (1874-1948) was the sealer, son of Joseph Fielding Smith (1838-1918). Peter James Sandberg (1852-1921) and Thomas Biesinger (1844-1931) were the witnesses. Interestingly, online, in October the same year, both were the witnesses with the same Sealer. Not sure if witnesses were also a calling then or not, but more than six months later all these men performed the exact same act as they did for Bill and Mary. I understand that their Bishop while living in Salt Lake City/Sugar House was LeGrand Richards (1886-1983), he was Bishop from 1920-1925, so very likely a true recollection.

This photo was also included in the photos. I understand from the family that Millie was pregnant in this photo in 1946. Gary was born in January 1947, so that seems to fit. Grandpa Andra always joked this photo made it look like he had flowers in his hair. It does look like that. This photo is a constant memory of my childhood, always sitting on my Grandmother’s vanity. She mentioned it to me often, I probably asked about it to start the conversations. There was an obvious fondness. I believe it is for those reasons that I also hold a fondness for it. I never had a very good scan of the photo and even online the copies were pixelated. I am happy to report this one is scanned and uploaded to FamilySearch in its highest quality.