FAE DORA JOHNSON JOHNSON
Fae was born May 24, 1919 in Basalt, Bingham County, Idaho, to Hans Andrew Johnson and Dora Chatman Hymas. Fae was the 7th of 9 children born to Hans and Dora—the 2nd of 3 girls. Dora said Fae was very delicate when she was born and even though the weather was very hot she was kept with hot water bottles until the last of June. There was no such thing as incubators at that time. She was blessed by her father on June 26, 1919.
Fae started school when she was 6 years of age in 1926. She skipped the second grade and graduated from grade school at the age of 12 in the year of 1932. She remembered having to wear those ugly long brown stockings to school. Many days she would roll them down to her ankles after she got to school as many of the girls would do. However, one day her mother came to school for some reason or another and saw that her legs were showing. What a disgrace!! Fae was marched home with her mother switching her legs with a willow all the way home.
She was baptized in Shelley, Idaho on June 2, 1927 by Robert Bradshaw and was confirmed on June 3, 1927 by Bro. Joseph H. Dye at Basalt.
She went through all of her classes in Primary and graduated from the Seagull class when she as 13 years of age in 1933. She, also, received her Patriarchal Blessing on Feb. 12, 1933 by Bro. Joseph H. Dye.
Fae started high school in the fall of 1932 but didn’t complete her freshman year or go any farther in her education because of poor health. In the spring of 1933, she had rheumatic fever and stated that she such a bad pain in her heart that she couldn’t lay on her side. Her parents sent for Bro. Merkley and Bro. Cox, both from Blackfoot, and had them administer to her. When they got through, she turned on her side and went right to sleep.
Her heart trouble was compounded with scarlet fever. She was in bed for four months without even being able to feed herself. She was administered to many times while she was sick and saw the power of the Lord made manifest. Her heart was so badly damaged that she was told by doctors she would not live to see adulthood. During one particular blessing, she was promised if she lived faithfully, she would live to see her family raised. Fae’s father was upset at this promise because of her poor health. However, Fae’s parents had seen the power of prayer and the power of the Priesthood too many times to ignore this promise. They knew the validity of it.
When she lived to adulthood and married, the doctors told her that she would not survive childbirth and therefore, she should not have any children. When she had two children, they told her that she would not live to see grandchildren. But she lived to see 5 of her grandchildren before she passed away.
Her service in the Church started at a young age. She was sustained as a Primary teacher in 1934 and taught different classes. She really enjoyed teaching the young Primary children. She helped with the Sunday School. On September 8, 1935, she was sustained as Assistant Secretary of the Basalt Ward. January 27, 1936 she was set apart as the Jr. Genealogy Teacher.
In 1935 she attended a stake dance with some of her friends, namely Adele Jensen. A young man named Wallace Johnson (no relation) was attending that same dance. Wallace’s friend, Hollis Harker, dared him to invite this pretty young lady to dance. He took the dare and referred to this young lady as a red winged blackbird because of the black dress trimmed in red she was wearing that evening. Wallace and Fae began a courtship that evening that turned into an eternal marriage on June 3, 1937, in the Salt Lake Temple.
Two children were born to Fae and Wallace. Wallace Delmar was born on 5 June 1939 and LaNea Fae was born on 6 May 1944. Both were born in Idaho Falls, Idaho at the L.D.S.Hospital
Despite Fae’s poor health, they enjoyed many activities together, especially fishing. The family enjoyed many fishing trips together. LaNea remembers one trip at Riverside when she fell in the river. She was sitting on a rock dangling her feet in the water in the swift current—just a little further—just a little further. All of a sudden she slipped in. The water was up to her chin. She was so scared. All she could mutter was “ma”. Mom was fishing from the next rock down—probably about 20 feet away. With the sound of the rushing water, there was no way she could hear LaNea. But somehow she saw her. Fae jumped in so fast after LaNea and got her out of the river. They headed back to camp which was passed Wallace. He saw them, started to tease Fae about falling in but realized what had happened. He realized that was not the time to tease—too many tears.
Another memorable fishing trip had several people, including Wallace and Fae, fishing from a boat. Two people hooked fish at the same time. The first fish to be landed was dropped on the bottom of the boat with the flatfish still in its mouth so the people could concentrate on landing the second fish. The flopping of the first fish caused the treble hook on the flatfish to become embedded in Fae’s rear. The scene of Fae’s screaming, Wallace’s trying to console her and the other’s trying to land the second fish was quite exciting.
Fae was a very outgoing person. She made friends very easily and had many friends. She was interested in other people and made others seem like they were her best friends. She served as a Pink Lady volunteer at the hospital for many years. She loved to play bridge and belonged to a couple of bridge clubs. I think it was more just the association with others. She was a member of DUP. When Fae’s Mother was in a Nursing Home, the older ladies were always so glad to see Fae come because she would visit with them, too. Sometimes, Grandma would get a little jealous. She would say, “I thought you came to see me!” She was plainly a very pleasant person to be around. A niece Maureen, remembers Aunt Fae as being so pretty, and being so nice.
Fae was always involved in her children’s lives. She was a room mother whenever she could be. Her kids were always very proud when their mom was at school and participating in their activities. Mom always went out of her way to make sure whatever she did was as nice as possible. She took pride in her children’s appearance. When, in Delmar’s senior year, he was voted as the “Best Dressed Classmate”, she said she took that as a compliment to her, because she bought all of his clothes.
She taught LaNea and her friend’s 4-H and attended 4-H Camp with them. She attended LaNea’a State FHA Convention in Boise as a chaperone. Delmar was very active in scouting with his Mom serving as his counselor on several of his merit badges. Fae was so proud of Delmar when he received his Eagle. Delmar gives credit to his Mom for this great accomplishment. Her children have always been so proud to have her a part of their lives and their activities.
Fae loved working with her children in the church, also. She loved being where they were. When her children were in Primary, she was in Primary. When LaNea was in MIA, Fae served in MIA for a while. It’s a great blessing there has always a closeness in her family.
Fae was always very close to her parents. Hans and Dora lived in Shelley during the latter part of their lives. Fae saw them almost every day. Holidays were a fun time spent with the family. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years were rotated among Fae, Maida, and Grandma/Grandpa. The three families would get together each year. The grandchildren’s responsibility each time was dishes EVERY TIME!! They would really complain but boy would they have fun. I don’t know how clean the dishes really were but we did have fun.
Ila died when she was very young so Fae and Maida were the only sisters who really knew each other. They were very close. They did many things together. They laughed together; they cried together; they worked together; they fought together; they shared joy, sorrow and pain together. They were true sisters. They were so close. There weren’t any sisters who were closer than Fae and Maida. They worked in the spud harvest together. Many stories were shared as they sat side by side at the spud hopper cutting spuds as Delmar shoveled spuds into that hopper.
Because of her health, Fae was not able to do much manual labor on the farm, but she surely was a good truck driver whether it be during spud harvest, grain harvest, or for the guys bucking hay. She enjoyed being outside doing whatever she could do to help. Probably the most help she provided was the excellent meals she cooked for the help. She was an excellent cook.
Wallace was well known for being an excellent farmer. One year, corporate officers from French’s Potato Processing Company came to Shelley from New York. They visited Wallace’s farm, but not only did they visit Wallace, they also stayed to partake of Fae’s good Idaho cooking. They published pictures of Wallace on the farm and pictures of Fae in her kitchen as well as her recipes.
Fae loved flowers. She always had beautiful flowers planted around her house as well as flowering trees. One of her favorite trees was a deep purple lilac. She, also, had a snowball tree. When the two were in season, she always had a bouquet of the two on her kitchen table. She also had a bowl of pansies when possible, too.
Fae loved red hair. She said her natural color was a mousy brown color. Her family never saw her natural color. They always thought she had the most beautiful red hair. Wallace called her “carrot top”. Fae’s Granddaughter Susan had a daughter, Jessica, with the color of hair that Fae always wanted. LaNea said Fae sent her to us for that reason.
Fae and Wallace loved to bowl. For a number of years they bowled together in a league. The condition of her health was reflected by the weight of the bowling ball which she used. She started out with a 12 pound ball. When that got too heavy for her, she went to a 10 pound ball. She finally went to an 8 pound ball. I’m not sure whether she went to a 6 pound ball. She would stand for a long time watching her ball slowly roll down the alley. The pins would fall down in slow motion but she would get the job done. But when it became too strenuous for her to bowl, they retired from the bowling league.
The house Fae and Wallace lived in was heated by a central heater located in the living room. Consequently, the surrounding rooms would get rather cold, especially during the winter. Verna remembered how Fae would like to sit in front of that heater eating one of her favorite foods—Jonathan apples.
Another memory Verna had about Fae was the kitchen in that house. Fae loved to decorate. The kitchen was decorated in white, black, and red, which was rather daring in those days. Verna said it was beautiful.
Since Wallace was a farmer, they lived about 2 miles out of Shelley. Fae’s parents lived in Shelley due to Hans’ poor health. Hans and Dora’s youngest son, Raeo, lived with Fae and Wallace and worked on the farm to help his parents.
Fae and Raeo had a very close relationship and remained very close. In fact, Raeo and his wife, Verna, were able to go to the hospital on the day LaNea was born to see Fae. This was the day Raeo was shipped overseas with the Army in WWII and was the last day the family saw him since he was killed in France the following October.
Verna also remembers what a devoted Mother Fae was to Delmar. Delmar’s favorite story was “Peter Rabbit”. He would love to sit on Fae’s lap to have her read him that particular story. He knew it so well, he knew if she made a mistake in reading it to him. He could almost read it to her.
For the last few years of her life, she lived from one new wonder drug to the next. When the effectiveness of a new drug would diminish to the point that it didn’t help her, another one would hit the market which helped for awhile. Eventually, she outlived the progress of medical science and they did not have another wonder drug to keep her alive.
Fae passed away on Jan. 18, 1968 in Idaho Falls, Bonneville, Idaho.
She was survived by her husband Wallace
Son, Delmar
Daughter, LaNea
She is buried in Shelley, Idaho
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