On 4 April 1942, Milo James Ross and Gladys Maxine Donaldson were married in Ogden by Bishop Charles Heslop of the Plain City Ward, with Gladys’ father David Donaldson and her sister Dena Michaelson as witnesses. Six months later Milo enlisted in the Army. Their civil marriage set their path that took them through World War II, through Milo’s wounds and recovery in the Philippines, through building a home and raising a family in Plain City. Thirty-four years later, they made it eternal.
On 2 July 1976, Milo James Ross and Gladys Maxine Donaldson Ross were sealed as husband and wife for time and all eternity in the Ogden Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by the senior Keith G. Campbell. Their daughter Judy Ethel Ross was sealed to them the same day. Witnessing the sealing were Gladys’ brother in law Dr. Chauncey D. Michaelson, who married Gladys’ sister Dena in 1943, and Milo’s Sharp cousin, Bishop Robert Sharp.
Gladys kept a handwritten note recording the events:
Milo & Gladys & Judy / Married by Bishop Charles Heslop / April 4, 1942 / Married in Ogden Temple July 2, 1976 / and had Judy sealed to us.
She also typed out a fuller account of the sealing day:
“Milo James Ross and Gladys Maxine Donaldson Ross were married July 2, 1976 in the Ogden Temple by Kieth G Cambell Sr. Judy Ethell Ross was sealed to us the same day. In attendence were Bishop Robert Sharp and wife Laurall Sharp, Dr. Chauncy Michaelson and Dena Michaelson, Edward Telford and Sharrell Telford, Johne Telfort and Sharon Telford, Nick Coons and Annett Coons, Lillian West, Judy’s School Teacher, came to see Judy sealed to her parents.”
“Bishop Sharp and Dr. Michaelson were our Witnesses. I only wish Milo and I would of done this work sooner so we could have Milo Paul Ross our very wounderful son and Caroline Taylor our other wounderful dauter sealed to us. We pray that by our Prayers and Faithfullness some day soon they will take their wounderfull families and enjoy the true happyness of being married for time and all Eternity.”
Their daughter Caroline marked the occasion with this card:
July 2, 1976
Well, it isn’t every girl that has the chance to congradulate their mother & dad on their marriage to each other their 2nd time and the right way. My heart is full of happiness for you and I am so proud of you. If there is anyone in this world that deserves all the happiness and treasures of this world and the next, it is for sure you two. You are the perfect couple in every way. The most wonderful parents a girl could ever have, always so understanding and always putting their childrens needs first. Maybe I can’t ever show you how much I love and appreciate you, but now with your new marriage the Lord will help you feel it. I wish and “pray” that you will both be happy and content, but I love you with all my heart and hope somehow I can let you know.
With more love than I can send, Caroline
Caroline was sealed to her parents 25 October 1991 in the Ogden Utah Temple.
Milo Paul Ross was sealed to his parents 4 February 1999 in the Ogden Utah Temple.
Plain City, Weber County, Utah is not a place that conjures images of billion-dollar industries. Its name suggests modesty, and its streets deliver on that promise — quiet fields, small farms, and houses set back from roads that run straight and flat through Weber County. There is substantial residential development in the past two decades. Even then, this small town produced a remarkable concentration of American transportation entrepreneurial energy. At the center of it stands one man: Chester Rodney England.
When a fire consumed Chester’s lumber yard on the evening of 6 April 1974, his neighbors rose to defend him to allow him to rebuild. Among those neighbors were my grandparents, Milo and Gladys Ross. What they did in the weeks that followed is documented below — eight pages of signatures collected on lumber yard estimate forms, a newspaper clipping, and a typed petition text. This post tells the story behind those pages.
Chester and Maude
Chester Rodney England was born 12 November 1896 in Plain City to William and Ismelda Thueson England. He grew up there, attended Weber Academy, and in 1916 married Maude Vivian Knight — a Plain City girl herself, born in August 1897. One month after their marriage, Chester received a mission call to the Southern States. He was set apart on 5 December 1916 by Apostle Anthony W. Ivins and left his new bride on 6 December 1916, serving for two years. He returned to find Utah in the grip of the 1918 influenza epidemic, his wife under quarantine, and her sister Elizabeth Knight Ericson dead. His mother was also ill, and he spent a week with his aunt Laura England before he could be with his family.
Chester wrote his own history late in life, and his voice is direct. After the mission he worked at the Amalgamated Sugar factory, farmed through the winters, bought a small Ford truck, and began hauling produce to the stores up through Cache Valley. “I found I could make more money doing this than farming,” he wrote, “so I turned the farm back to my father.” On 24 October 1919, his first son, Eugene Knight England, was born in Ogden. On 6 March 1923, his second son, William Knight England, followed. Two daughters, Rosemary and Carol, completed the family.
Milo James Ross (1921–2014)
In 1924 the Weber Central Dairy Association organized and asked for bids to truck milk from the dairymen into the dairy on 19 Washington Boulevard in Ogden. Chester submitted his bid, was accepted, and trucked the first load. He delivered milk in the morning and hauled potatoes up through Cache Valley in the afternoon. Gene and Bill grew up in the business. During summers Chester took them along on the long hauls, building a shelf of boxes out from the cab seat so they could nap on the road. He made sure they always had a bottle of pop at each stop.
During World War II, while Gene and Bill served in the military, Chester hauled Mexican bananas coming into the country at El Paso, Texas, distributing them throughout Utah. Gene served in the 77th Infantry Division at Okinawa, earning the Bronze Star for crawling under fire to drag a wounded soldier to safety — 129 men went up to the escarpment, 27 came back after 72 hours. Bill served in the Air Force in the Philippine Islands from 1943 to 1946. The two brothers found each other on Cebu using a coded letter — Gene had written his middle initial as “B” to signal his location — and Bill arrived with a mattress, making Gene the only man in his division sleeping on something other than a canvas cot. A letter written from the Hotel Keystone in San Diego in May 1946 — Chester on the road at age 49 — gives a picture of those years on the home front. He writes to his wife about a load of bananas, his plans to buy a semi-trailer, and his satisfaction that Gene and Bill are doing well.
Shortly after their return from service, Gene and Bill joined Chester hauling produce. Their first postwar hauls included lumber from Oregon back to Utah, and it was that trade that gave the family firsthand knowledge of the lumber market. The first diesel truck — a used 1940 Kenworth conventional — was purchased during this period. As the business grew, the company also ran two packing sheds and a storage facility for Idaho potatoes at its peak. Around 1957, an unforeseen change in the potato hauling market prompted Gene and Bill to file applications for ICC licenses to haul all kinds of freight, opening an entirely new range of products and geographic lanes. That same year, C.R. England offered 72-hour coast-to-coast service, the first such offering available to American shippers. The first trip east was made by driver Robert Gould in a new 1959 Kenworth, tractor number 17, hauling produce from California to Philadelphia.
In the 1950s Chester stepped back from trucking, leaving Gene and Bill to run what had become C.R. England & Sons. He returned his attention to Plain City. As he wrote: “Our sons retired me from C.R. England & Sons so I started building homes on our property in Plain City. I soon decided I needed a lumber yard if I was going to continue to build. In 1960 I built a lumber yard on the property just west of the home we had sold.” The family’s years hauling lumber from Oregon had given Chester intimate knowledge of the lumber trade, and that knowledge informed the decision. He built three homes on adjacent property and sold them to Keith Lund, Ray Cottle, and Blaine Gibson. He built 25 homes in Plain City and many others throughout Weber County. He built a 12-unit apartment complex in Roy. He took second mortgages from young couples who could not otherwise buy. “It was a great satisfaction to have young couples come and tell me they would never have bought their homes without my help,” he wrote.
Maude was with him through all of it. Born in Plain City in August 1897, she never really left. She served as president of the Plain City Primary, held positions in the Relief Society throughout her life, and attended the Ogden Temple with Chester twice a week when they could manage it. She died in Plain City on 12 February 1982, having lived there her entire 84 years. Chester moved to Salt Lake City after her death and died there on 5 January 1989. He is buried beside her in Plain City Cemetery.
The Sugar Factory
The sugar factory was woven into both families long before the fire. The Amalgamated Sugar Company plant at Wilson Lane, just south of Plain City, was one of the economic anchors of Weber County from the early twentieth century onward. Plain City farmers hauled beets to the rail dumps each fall for decades; the railroad that came to Plain City in 1909 arrived largely to move beet cars to that factory. Chester England worked at the sugar factory himself after returning from his mission in late 1918, spending two winters there before he turned to farming and then trucking.
Milo’s father, John “Jack” Ross, worked for Amalgamated Sugar much of his adult life, following the company between its Ogden, Burley, and Paul, Idaho plants as work demanded. That movement accounts for the geography of the Ross children: Milo was born in Plain City in 1921, his brother Paul born in the town of Paul, Idaho in 1922, and Harold born in Burley in 1924. Amalgamated Sugar built its Paul factory in 1917, and families from the Plain City area followed the work north. The factory experienced difficult early years — a postwar agricultural depression after World War I, and then the beet leafhopper blight that devastated crops through the 1920s and into the 1930s — but it survived to become, in time, the largest sugarbeet processing facility in the world. Chester England and Jack Ross were contemporaries who had worked for the same company in the same corner of northern Utah before either of them had settled into the lives their families would remember them by. For more on the sugar factory’s role in Plain City’s history, see History of Plain City Pt. 1.
The Cradle of American Trucking
Chester England’s 1920 Model T purchase was the seed of something considerably larger than one family’s business. Four major American trucking companies trace their origins directly to Plain City, and all four connect back to Chester. The Standard-Examiner and C.R. England’s own history have documented this story in detail.
C.R. England & Sons grew steadily through the postwar decades into one of the largest refrigerated carriers in the United States, eventually operating a fleet approaching 4,000 trucks and headquartered in Salt Lake City. Gene England served as president of the company well into his later years, still coming into the office daily at age 88. He died on 13 November 2024 at the age of 105. Bill England, who married Fern Hadley — a Plain City Hadley, the same family that signed the petition — died on 28 March 2018 at age 95. He spent his last ten years without sight but maintained, as his family recorded, an extraordinary optimism throughout. He entitled his life history “It Is As Good As It Gets.”
Carl Moyes had driven trucks for C.R. England in his younger years. In the late 1950s, Carl and his wife Betty started B&C Truck Leasing in Plain City. In 1966, when their son Jerry graduated from Weber State College, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona and formed the company that would eventually become Swift Transportation — for many years the largest truckload carrier in the United States. Jerry Moyes later observed that he liked to say there was “diesel in the water” in Plain City, and that the people there were conceived in sleeper cabs.
In 1990, brothers Kevin and Keith Knight and their cousins Randy and Gary Knight left Swift to found Knight Transportation. All four had grown up in Plain City and gotten their start working for the Moyes family’s Swift Transportation. The Knights were also related to Maude Knight, who had married Chester England in 1916, making them family to the man who started the Plain City trucking tradition. Knight Transportation started with five trucks; four years after going public the company had between 250 and 300. Knight and Swift announced a merger in April 2017, creating Knight-Swift Transportation, valued at an estimated $5 billion with approximately 23,000 tractors and 77,000 trailers.
In 1976, Jeff England — Gene’s oldest son and Chester’s grandson — bought his first truck while still working at C.R. England as an owner-operator, initially under the name “Pride of England Enterprises.” In 1979, with three trucks and a haul contract moving produce from California to New York, he left the family firm to go fully independent. His wife Pat was his partner from the beginning. In the early 1980s he assembled a group of investors, purchased ten more trucks, and rebranded as Pride Transport Inc. By 2017 the company operated a fleet of 500 trucks. In 2012 Jeff passed ownership to his son Jay England. Jeff England said of his decision to leave: “I felt that I needed to do my own thing.” He was 76 at the time of that interview and still driving a truck a couple of times a month.
The fuel infrastructure serving these fleets also has roots in this region. O. Jay Call, who came to Willard, Utah in the mid-1960s, founded Flying J in 1968, naming it for his love of flying, and built it into the largest retailer of diesel fuel in North America. His uncle, Reuel Call, had founded Maverik convenience stores in 1928 in Afton, Wyoming. FJ Management acquired Maverik in 2012. The Call family’s fuel network and the England-Moyes-Knight trucking empire developed in the same northern Utah environment across the same decades.
In September 2022, representatives of all four trucking firms gathered at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden for the premiere of a documentary about their shared origins. Gene England, then 102 years old, was present on stage alongside Jeff and Dan England, Jerry Moyes, and Kevin Knight.
The Fire
On the evening of 6 April 1974, Chester England went over to open up the lumber yard. He was 77 years old.
He described what followed in his own autobiography:
As I opened the office door, the place exploded and was engulfed with flames. It had been smoldering during the night. We do not know what caused it but it burned everything. I ran in to get the invoices but the ceiling began falling and burned holes in my jacket so I could have lost my life. This was a terrible experience watching everything you have worked hard for go up in flames. I was down in bed for 10 days from shock. We had insurance on it but I had been buying so much merchandise that the insurance didn’t begin to pay for the loss. I appreciated the fire department and the ward members who worked so hard to help. It took many weeks after to clean up. My family thought I should retire and not build it up again. However, I knew I wouldn’t be happy without something to do so I started rebuilding as soon as I could.
The 1977 History of Plain City records the fire at “England Builder’s Lumber Company” and gives the date as April 6, 1975. That date appears to be a transcription error in the town history; Chester’s own autobiography gives 6 April 1974, and that account is the primary source. The fire also destroyed the adjacent Leigh Archery Company, operated by LeGrande Leigh and Robert Jones. The insurance fell short. Chester was 77 and his family urged him to retire. He refused.
Plain City Will Consider Future of the Lumberyard
A newspaper clipping, attached to the first petition page, reported what happened next:
PLAIN CITY — The City Council here will hold a special session May 9 at 8 p.m. to make a decision on requests to rebuild a lumberyard and business destroyed by fire.
Requests that the city permit reconstruction of the lumberyard and Leigh Archery Co. came from Chester England and LeGrande Leigh and Robert Jones.
The council reported, however, that there have been some objections from citizens who do not want to see the lumber operation reestablished.
It also was reported there have been some questions as to the nature of the archery business being conducted. It has not been determined whether it is a commercial business or a manufacturing operation.
The requests to rebuild have been referred to the city planning commission for its recommendation. The recommendation is expected to be received prior to the May 9 meeting. All interested citizens are invited to attend the meeting which will be held in the City Hall.
The council also will consider various projects the city can carry out under the Utah Extension Service Program. Ronald Bouk of the service outlined various programs cities such as Plain City can conduct that may bring it awards and other benefits. The city must make application for such projects by May 31.
Some citizens did not want Chester to rebuild. And so his neighbors organized.
Milo and Gladys Ross
Milo and Gladys Ross, 30 May 1942
Milo James Ross (1921–2014) was born 4 February 1921 in a log cabin just north of Plain City. His mother, Ethel Sharp Ross, died of puerperal septicemia in August 1925 when Milo was four years old, leaving three surviving boys. Milo went to live with his Uncle Ed Sharp, Harold with Uncle Dale Sharp. They were raised in separate homes within a few blocks of one another in Plain City, the extended Sharp family absorbing the loss. For more on the Sharp family’s tragedies, see Sharp Tragedies.
Milo grew up working Ed Sharp’s farm — tending onions, hauling salt from the flats at Promontory, doing whatever needed doing. He played baseball with the Plain City Farm Bureau team and attended Weber High School.
Plain City baseball team. Back (l-r): William Freestone (manager), Norman Carver, Glen Charlton, Fred Singleton, Elmer Singleton (1918–1996). Middle: Clair Folkman, Dick Skeen, Albert Sharp, Abe Maw, Milo Ross. Front: F. Skeen, Walt Moyes, Arnold Taylor, Lynn Stewart, Theron Rhead. See also: Plain City Hurler.
1937 Plain City Baseball Champions. Back (l-r): Ben Van Shaar, Ervin Heslop, Ellis Stewart, Kenneth Taylor, Don Gibson, John Reese. Middle: Frank Hadley, Howard Wayment, Wayne Rose, Ray Charlton. Front: Keith Hodson, Howard Hunt, Wayne Carver, Lyle Thompson, Milo Ross.
In 1940 Milo met Gladys Maxine Donaldson (1921–2004) at a Plain City celebration. They married on 4 April 1942. Six months later Milo enlisted in the Army. He served in the 33rd Infantry Division, 130th Regiment, Company C, trained in weapons and earned expert ranking. He arrived in Hawaii on 4 July 1943 — the same day his son, Milo Paul, was born in Utah, a son he would not meet for three years. He fought through the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines and was present at the Japanese surrender at Luzon in June 1945. He received two Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. His company received a Presidential Citation for outstanding performance during the seizure of Hill X in the Bilbil Mountain Province. For more on Milo’s military service, see Milo James Ross Military Medals and his 1997 oral history interview.
Milo Ross in uniform at Fort Lewis, Washington
He came home and went to work as a contractor and builder, eventually building and remodeling hundreds of homes throughout Utah, mostly in Weber County. That work is why, when the time came to gather signatures for Chester England, he had a pad of lumber yard estimate forms at hand. They were his working tools. He pressed them into service as petition pages.
Milo knew Chester England personally. A childhood photograph survives showing Milo alongside Harold Ross, Howard Hunt, Josephine Sharp, and Janelle England on horseback — the England and Ross and Sharp children together in the neighborhood as naturally as their parents moved among one another. In his 1997 oral history interview, Milo recalled Chester among the Plain City men who had struggled during the Depression years, when banks failed and farms were lost. Chester was woven into Milo’s memory of Plain City going back to his earliest years.
On Horse l-r: Harold Ross, Howard Hunt, Milo Ross, Josephine Sharp (arm only), Janelle England, Eddie Sharp. In front l-r: Ruby Sharp, Lucille Maw, and Milo Riley Sharp.
The Petition
The typed text at the center of the petition read:
We the citizens of Plain City feel that Chester England should be allowed to rebuild his lumber yard. Since when do you kick a man when he is down/ Lets stand together and help Chester England when he needs a friend.
The headers on the petition pages identify the organizers: “By Gladys and Milo Ross — To Help Mr. England — Rebuild Back Up.” The forms were passed through the community in the weeks leading up to the May 9 city council meeting. One page was circulated by Joan Jenkins.
My father, Milo Paul Ross, had worked for Chester England as a teenager. He and his first wife, Victoria “Vicki” Feldtman (1945–2018) — married 5 March 1963 — both signed the petition. For more on Vicki, see Vicki’s Class Pictures. My grandfather Harold Ross also signed. The Sharp cousins — W.A. Sharp and Florence Sharp, children of the family that had raised Milo and Harold — signed as well. Maude K. England and Chester R. England signed the petition themselves.
Among the more than 340 signers, the connections to Plain City’s history run deep. The Moyes family signed in force — the same family whose son Carl had driven trucks for Chester England and whose grandson Jerry would found Swift Transportation. The Knights signed — relatives of Maude Knight England and future founders of Knight Transportation. Elmer Singleton (1918–1996), the Plain City baseball legend who pitched in the major leagues for five teams over fifteen years, signed with his wife Elsie. Cherrill Palmer Knight (1931–2021), who had served as Plain City City Recorder and was the daughter of Vern and Viola Palmer — also signers — added her name alongside her husband Thayne (1931–2018). Roxey R. Heslop, who contributed the school and cemetery histories to the 1977 Plain City history book, also signed. Hildor England (1896–1983), born Johnson, who married into the England family, signed as well. Gordon C. Orton (1924–2008), a Plain City general contractor and World War II veteran who served in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Okinawa, signed with his wife Leone. Vernal Moyes, who had served as a Plain City councilman, signed alongside his family.
The 1977 History of Plain City records the outcome: “Builders Bargain Center, formerly England’s Builders. This business was started and run by Chester England for many years.” Chester rebuilt. The community’s voice prevailed. For more on Plain City’s history, see the Plain City series on Sagacity.
Circle A Construction
Milo Paul Ross and Larry Aslett
My father’s career at Circle A Construction was built substantially on the same industry that had shaped the England and Ross families in Plain City. Circle A, founded in 1952 in Jerome, Idaho by Marvin Aslett, hauled sugar beets for Amalgamated Sugar for most of its operating history. For roughly 34 years, from around 1971 until Circle A transferred the Paul operations to AgExpress in 2004, my father supervised beet hauls across the Magic Valley, from the fields to the Amalgamated dumps at Paul and elsewhere across southern Idaho — the same plants Jack Ross had worked in a generation before.
Marvin Aslett and Milo Paul Ross at Milo’s 20-year service recognition, 1990. See: Circle A Construction Honors.
Marvin’s sons Larry and Steve Aslett ran the company alongside my father for decades. We called Larry “Uncle Larry” growing up. The Asletts took us to roundups in Mackay, to ranch country above White Knob. I worked for Circle A myself from 1993 through 1998. My first job in 1994 was washing and waxing trucks at the old Hynes beet dump in Paul after harvest. Jack Ross had worked for Amalgamated Sugar in Paul in the 1920s. My father hauled beets to Amalgamated in Paul for three decades. Circle A’s beet hauls fed the same company in the same town across three generations of this family’s working life.
Circle A Construction trucks in front of the Idaho State Capitol, 2000
The Petition Pages
Below are all eight pages of the petition as collected by Milo and Gladys Ross in the spring of 1974.
Complete List of Signers
Names marked with an asterisk (*) represent uncertain readings of the cursive originals. Dates are given where confirmed through research. This list was transcribed from handwritten signatures; corrections and additions are welcome.
Adams, Alice Adams, Allene C. Adams, Calvin Rex Allen, Jeanine Alsup, Marguerete W.* Alsup, Phil S. Amussen, Doris Maw Amussen, Richard W. Ashdown, Rex R. Ashdown, Virginia Bacon, R.A. Baker, Dean A. Baker, Penny Baker, Tom D. Baker, Vivian Beeler, Diana Beeler, Jack Beutler, Kandis C. Beutler, Lloyd J. Bingham, Dee Bingham, Evelyn Bingham, Farrell J. Bingham, Junior D. Bingham, Lorene Bingham, Zona F. Brown, Donna Brown, Robert Bullock, Duane Bullock, Joyce W. Bunn, Carol Bunn, John H. Burr, Adle R. Burr, Arnold K. Burr, Kenna F. Burr, Lester Burr, Roy D. Butler, Donnette R. Butler, Kenneth L. Butterfield, Judy* Calvert, Elaine Calvert, Kent W. Carver, Brent Carver, Harold C. Carver, Jane Carver, Liland Carver, Theone Chase, Dannell Chase, Ladd Chase, LaRene G. Chase, Norma P. Child, Melvin E. Chournas, Beverly* Chournas, Chris* Christensen, Barbara Christensen, Darrell Christensen, Ivan Christensen, Ken Christensen, Margaret Christensen, Ted Cliften, Elaine Cliften, Robert Close, Tom* Cook, Dee Cook, George Cook, Harvey Cook, Jennie Cook, LaRae Cook, Lyman H. Corey, Dean Corey, Fae Costley, Elsie Costley, Paul Cowell, Florence Crook, Carlene Crook, Lane Daley, Kenneth* Daley, Thora Dall, Kathie* Davidson, Donna Davidson, Kathy Davidson, Marland L. DeVries, Norm Donaldson, Betty M. Donaldson, David East, Ava M. East, Donald East, Jimmy K. Eddy, Beverly Eddy, Max Ellis, Carole Ellis, Diana Ellis, Donald B. Ellis, Glen Ellis, Janet Ellis, Lynn Ellis, Ray England, Boyce England, Chester R. (1896–1989) England, Hildor (1896–1983) England, Marvel S. England, Maude K. (1897–1982) England, Merlin England, Mona England, Orel W. Eskelson, David Lon Etherington, John E. Etherington, Nelda Fisher, Dorothy K. Fisher, Robert W. Folkman, Andrea Folkman, Carl Folkman, Clair Folkman, Clara Folkman, Cliff Folkman, Jim Folkman, LeRoy Folkman, Norma Folkman, Robert L. Folkman, Viola Foremaster, Bonne* Foremaster, Pete Fuller, Mary Lynn Fuller, Rex Fuhriman, Viola Gallegos, Edith Gee, Vilate Giles, Lewis Giles, Lucille Grieve, Claramae Grieve, Paul Haas, Julie Hadley, Barbara Hadley, Connie Hadley, Devaine Hadley, Doug Hadley, Gordon Hadley, Howard Hadley, Janet Hadley, Karma W.* Hadley, LaVirra* Hadley, Lenora Hadley, Mary Fee* Hamp, Beth Hansen, Gaylen G. Hansen, Loren M. Hansen, Nancy Havseler/Tesseder, Christine* Haws, Arlene Haws, Darwin C. Haws, Varnell Heslop, Roxey R. Higley, Shirley Higley, Willard J. Hill, Gary Hill, Kae Hipwell, Elmer Hipwell, Joanne Hipwell, Rosetta Hobson, Connie Hobson, Jack Hodson, Delbert Hodson, Lyle M. Hodson, Mr. Ivan Hodson, Ms. Ivan Holmes, Doug Holmes, Joanne Hori, Nancy Hori, Sam Howard, Virgie Howell, Kent* Howell, Peggy J. Hunt, Jan Hurst, Vick* Imlay, Nancy Imlay, Terrence Jackson, David W. Jackson, George Jackson, Mrs. George Jackson, Mrs. Keith Jackson, Keith Jenkins, Ellen W. Jenkins, Genevieve Jenkins, Joan Jenkins, JoAnn Jenkins, Joyce Jenkins, Quentin M. Jenkins, Ronald Jensen, Blaine R. Jensen, Joyce Jensen, June B.* Jensen, Kit O. Johansen, Barry L. Johansen, Carol Johnson, Judy B. Johnson, Randy Johnson, Rex L. Jolly, Grace Jolly, L.M.* Jones, Kathy Jones, Robert Kapp, Clara Jean Kapp, Leon Kawa, Grant D. Kelley, Bertha Kelley, Gail Kelley, Jesse R. Kelley, Leona Kennedy, Hazel Kishimoto, Lorn Knight, Argus* Knight, Arson* Knight, Cherrill (1931–2021) Knight, Thayne E. (1931–2018) Lakey, Dixie Lakey, Tom Large, Fred* Large, Kay* Larkin, Wade R. Laub, William R. Lord, Clarendon “Gene” (1929–2015) Lord, Cline Lund, Elizabeth Lund, Eugene Lund, Keith Lund, Pearl Mace, Rieths* Mahoney, Kathryn Mahnke, Eugene Mahnke, Laura Maw, Abram E. Maw, Floy A. Maw, Karen Maw, Monna B. Maw, Norma Jean Maw, R. John McFarland, Fenton McMillan, Nola L.* McMillan, Thomas A.* Merrill, Paul O.* Mikkelsen, Leo Mikkelsen, Renee Miller, Clarence Miller, Ranae Miller, Thomas A. Miller, Veda L. Moyes, Beverly Moyes, Dale L. Moyes, Edna Moyes, Elaine Moyes, Elbert Moyes, Fentis* Moyes, Ivan Moyes, Juanita Moyes, Kay H. Moyes, LuJean Moyes, Lynn V. Moyes, Mable Moyes, Orin Moyes, Vernal Nash, Augusta R. Neff, Mr. Wayne Neff, Ms. Wayne North, Janet North, Rick Olofson, Mary L. Olofson, Robert L. Olsen, Ian* Olsen, Mary Olsen, Ron Olsen, Yvonne Orton, Gordon C. (1924–2008) Orton, Leone Overman, Curt Painter, Cleo Painter, Lee Palmer, Douglas Palmer, Lawrence Palmer, Susanne Palmer, Thelma H. Palmer, Vern Palmer, Viola (1908–2009) Post, Bessie Post, Judy O. Poulsen, Bernard Poulsen, Nora Rasmussen, Don J. Rasmussen, MaryLynn Reese, J.D. Rhead, Bonnie Rhead, Steve Rhead, Theron Rhead, Vivian Ritz, Mark Robins, Jay* Robins, Mildred Robson, Amy Roddomy, Ronald* Rogers, Dennis O. Rogers, Shareen Roper, Mr. Rodney Roper, Mrs. Rodney Ross, Gladys (1921–2004) — organizer Ross, Harold Ross, Milo James (1921–2014) — organizer Ross, Paul M. Ross, Vicki (1945–2018) Russell, Joe Russell, Shirley Sargent, Evona Sargent, Kent Saunders, Carl R. Searcy, Hazel Searcy, Kenneth J. Seegmiller, Dale Seegmiller, Marie F. Sharp, Florence Sharp, Laurel Sharp, W.A. Shaw, Jerrell B. Shaw, Phyllis Simpson, Archie W.* Simpson, Florence Singleton, Elmer (1918–1996) Singleton, Elsie (–1988) Singleton, VaCona Skeen, Archie Skeen, Charles Skeen, Dick Skeen, Lorraine Skeen, Luella Skeen, Wayne Smith, LaWanna R. Smith, Vernon J. Sneddon, Dennis Sorensen, Gordon A. Sorensen, Karma Sparks, Mildred Stagge, Floyd Stagge, Myrle Statler, Lynda Statler, Richard Stevens, Debra Stevens, Gwen C. Stevens, John W. Tafoya, Arthur Tafoya, Via Taylor, Alice Taylor, Annette Taylor, Call Taylor, Clare Taylor, Edna Taylor, Elma Taylor, Elvin L. (1920–2004) Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Fern Taylor, Frances Taylor, Gerald J.* Taylor, Grant Taylor, Idona Maw Taylor, Jr.* Taylor, Kathlene Taylor, Kathy Taylor, Ralph A. Taylor, Rodney Taylor, Rolla H. Taylor, Ross M. Taylor, Sheri Taylor, Val Taylor, Valoy (1932–2024) Tesseder, Doug* Thomas, Duane F. Thompson, Gordon Thompson, Lavina Thompson, Margaret Thompson, Marvel Thompson, Merrvin* Tippetts, Larry* Truscott, L.C. Truscott, LaVona Valdez, Evelyn Valdez, Raymond J. Van Meeteren, Beth Van Meeteren, Frank Van Meeteren, Jean Van Meeteren, Ron Van Workom, Joyce* Vaughn, Bert Vaughn, Renee Wakefield, Marilyn Walton, Neale Walton, Rhea Weatherstone, Lorraine West, George C. West, Lillian Westbrook, Herman Weston, Becky Weston, Brent Weston, Eldon Weston, Fae Weston, Jae H. Williams, Arnold A. Williams, Charlotte Williams, Delbert Williams, F. LeRoy Williams, Karen A. Williams, Nadiene Winder, Jane Winder, Wayne Wright, Norma
Scanning and working through the photos of Dave & Betty Donaldson continues to be a gold mine. While many of the photos are more routine or mundane, once and a while a few pop up that are an insight into the past we did not previously have. Here are some of those photos. I hope there are even more yet to be found.
Dave Donaldson
Likely in southern California, Dave looks like a young teenager. Dave was born in 1928, I guess he is about 12-14 in the photo.
Maxine, Gladys, Dave, Dena and Dora Donaldson
This photo is fun as it shows a glimpse into the young Donaldson family kids. I don’t have many photos of my Grandma Gladys and every extra one gives more reality to her childhood. Dave was born in 1928, I am guessing he is about 7 or 8 here. Even though Dena and Dora are twins, you can tell they are not identical. I still cannot tell them apart though. I love the wallpaper advertisement in the back ground. It looks like the boonies, but close enough to town to have a large sign advertising wallpaper.
“family Long Beach Calif 1932”
What is the Donaldson family doing in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California in 1932? What is the occasion? Who were they visiting? The neighborhood looks nice. They are dressed nice too.
Dave & Betty Donaldson in Jackson, Wyoming
It looks like a fun ride, but Betty also seems to be holding on extra tight.
Young Milo Ross
This photo is a bit of an enigma to me. I believe this is a pre-war Milo Ross. I haven’t seen this photo before. But why would Dave & Betty have it in their possession, how did they get it if it predates my Grandma Gladys? The hat is similar to some other photos I have seen.
Milo Ross planting
Milo Ross with planter
You can see both of these two photos have Grandpa with probably the same hat. The last one, with the horse in the field, probably dates this into the 1930s. I don’t know how to track down that planter and date it. But I am guessing late 1930s, maybe early 1940s.
Here is another with the same gun.
Milo Ross with gun
John Telford, Jan Birch, Richard Michaelson, Milo Ross
This photo was a delight. Another young photo of my Dad with his first cousins. I am guessing he is 6 or 7, so about 1950-1951.
My Great Grandma Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson with Eddie, Irene, Mary, and John Telford
Dena Michaelson and Berendena Donaldson at Will Rogers house (that I believe burned down in 2025)
Dena Donaldson and Dena Michaelson at their home in California. Interesting partial reflections in the water on the sidewalk.
David Donaldson and friends in San Francisco.
This photo appears to be a postcard of sorts. Here is the back of it.
The back gives us more information. The date – 11 December 1917. Taken at 225 Market Street, San Francisco, California. Jack and Byron both appear to have signed their names, but the rest of the writing is David’s. David and Jack are from Ogden, Utah. Byron is from Evanston, Wyoming. I don’t know which is Byron and which is Jack. I also cannot tell Jack’s last name and have been unable to locate something that matches. Kielman? Kiefman? Kilfner?
I located Byron Powell, born 21 July 1894 in Winters Quarter, Carbon, Utah and died 12 September 1957 in Ogden. Byron registered for the military draft in Uinta County, Wyoming, which includes Evanston in 1917-1918.
Dena, Dave, Dora, Maxine, David inside vehicle, and Gladys Donaldson on a trip
Again, I don’t know for certain which is Dora and which is Dena. But another fun photo of my Grandma I did not have before.
I don’t know where this photo is from, but I believe it is somewhere in southern Utah. Probably near or in Zions National Park.
I continue to scan many of the photos belonging to Dave and Betty Donaldson. Some of the photos are a group or series, like this one. I don’t know why, but this one stood out enough for me to do a post on it.
Dad often helps me name some of the individuals in photos, or at least he looks at them. He does not always know who people are in the photos. When skimming these photos, he made the comment, “If you looked at the sign in sheet on the top of that arch, my name is there.” He told me it was one of the stops on a Boy Scout whitewater trip down the Colorado River in about 1957.
That trip was while the Glen Canyon Dam was under construction. They had to take their canoes out and hike around the dam construction and put back in below. When they were passing the canyon where Rainbow Bridge is located, they pulled out and hiked up the canyon. They then climbed up on top of the bridge, which is a big no-no now.
These photos show a Rainbow Bridge much more accessible by water through the still filling Lake Powell.
As you can see in the photo below, these photos were likely taken in the middle to late 1970s. The dam did not fully fill until 1980! 17 years to fill! It has not been full since that time, continuing to decline due to prolonged drought.
It is an awe inspiring sight to behold.
Dave Donaldson and Irene Telford
I do not know anything more than what the photos tell. Family trip to Lake Powell? Who is the instigator? Rented boat?
Irene Telford, children, and Betty Donaldson
Irene is the daughter of Sterlin Delaino Telford Jr and Maxine Donaldson. David and Maxine are siblings to my Grandmother, Gladys Donaldson Ross. I scanned this photo just recently of Irene and Mel Rawlinson. I believe the daughter’s name is Shelly.
As I worked through the photos of Dave and Betty Donaldson, I stumbled on some pictures sent from Dad. Dad, Milo Paul Ross, attended the 1957 Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. I thought I would share those photos along with some other items I have scanned related to that trip. Since there were a couple of photos from the 1958 High Adventure Trip, I thought I would include those too.
First, be aware that the Great Salt Lake and Lake Bonneville Councils published a book about their trip. “Onward for God and My Country” was the motto. I have scanned the entire book – it is provided below.
The book says the trip occurred in July 1957. The book provides plenty of photos of the highlights. These few photos show what Dad thought was interesting enough to take pictures.
The trip took them east through a variety of states. Included was Chicago, Detroit, and Palmyra. Stops included the Sacred Grove and Smith Farm. Albany, Springfield, Boston, and New York City.
Dad does not recall the names or even knowing anyone in the photos at Jamboree.
I remember Dad talking about the Statue of Liberty. They climbed the stairs to the crown. He also indicated that at that time they let some of them climb to the torch. It was a very memorable experience. He also mentioned the Empire State Building and Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Vice President Nixon addressed the Scouts.
Kammeyer’s supported the Jamboree.
For those LDS Scouts, Harold B Lee and Delbert L Stapley spoke to the boys on Sunday. Here is a letter Dad wrote home while there.
I previously wrote about Dad and scouting. Here is his Eagle Scout picture.
Milo Paul Ross achieved Eagle Scout
Here is a note Grandpa made about this picture.
Milo Ross, Bill McBride, Leon Taylor, Freddy Cox Eagle Announcement
Milo James Ross commented about Milo Paul Ross receiving his Duty to God award on 27 April 1959
Duty to God Award
Letter from Church Headquarters
Here are a couple of the photos from the Colorado River rafting trip. Dad thinks there are more photos. He does not remember or recognize any of the individuals in the photos.
Dad remembered they had to pull out of the river to go around the Glen Canyon Dam construction.
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Both of these were trips of a lifetime. Neither have been forgotten.
David Donaldson is on the back row, fourth from the left. Beatrice Carol Payne is in the middle row, sixth from the left.
This photo has “David school third grade” written on it. Since David William Donaldson was born in 1928, I am guessing this photo was probably taken in 1937. I think that would have been the end of his third grade year.
I tried to see if the columns looked familiar for some of the old Ogden, Utah, schools. I couldn’t find one that seemed to match. It is a fun picture to see the kids mostly in overalls.
In discussions on an Ogden Facebook page, some people shared photos of the old Lincoln Elementary School. It was east of Washington Avenue and north of 3rd Street. I have not found any great pictures of the building to really confirm or deny this was that old Lincoln Elementary School. The current Lincoln Elementary in Ogden is a much newer building at a different location.
Nothing else is known about this photo.
Dave would have turned 97 this year on 25 November.
Here is a little newspaper clipping in the possessions of my Great Great Grandmother Mary Elizabeth Williams Donaldson. It seems fitting she might have saved this clipping because she was a widow for almost 38 years. She did remarry after William Scott Donaldson died, but she outlived her next husband too.
The Golden Gate International Exposition, held on Treasure Island in San Francisco, was the 1939-1940 World Fair to showcase technology and culture. It is fun to see evidence that my Great Grandparents made the trip.
World Fair Post Card
“Airplane View from Oakland
“Showing San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate International Exposition.
“In 1939, San Francisco, Oakland and the cities around the Golden Gate invite the world to join them in celebrating the completion of the world’s two largest bridges, spanning San Francisco Bay to the East Bay, and northward to the vast Redwood Empire.
“In the foreground of this picture is an architectural sketch by Chesley Bonestell of the Golden Gate International Exposition. Forty million dollars will go into the staging of California’s World Fair, which will open February 18, 1939, for a period of 228 days.
Dave, David, and Dena Donaldson at the Golden Gate Exposition
I tried to pinpoint more of where this photo was taken. But much of the World Fair is no longer there. I am fairly certain that is the Tower of the Sun in the background, but nothing else seems to line up with the limited maps.