Rulon Hawkins Rasband (1909 - 1988)

Born 9 Sep 1909 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Rogers (Bourne) Rasband — married 19 Sep 1935 in Salt Lake LDS Temple, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Husband of Verda (Anderson) Rasband — married 10 Aug 1947 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Died 4 Aug 1988 at age 78 in Sandy, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Eugene C. Rasband [send private message]

Biography

Rulon Hawkins Rasband

by Rulon Rasband

"I was born Sep. 9, 1909, in the large, two story, red brick home that my parents had just recently built and move into, which was located and is still standing on the corner of 9th East and 1075 South, Salt Lake City, Utah. I was born in the dining room on the first floor, which was quite common in those days. I was the eighth of nine children. My little brother died in infancy, leaving me the baby of the family.

"My father was Charles Rasband, and he was born on July 21, 1970, in Heber City, Utah, in a log cabin which stood behind the present mortuary. As a youth I spent many happy summers in Heber, working in the hay field for my uncle. He paid me a dollar a day and board and room. My mother was Esther Emily … Hawkins, and she was born on Sep. 6, 1869 in my grandfather[']s home which stood where the Salt Lake City and County Building is now.

"My sister, Fern (Etta Fern Raband), was just two years older than I so I spent much of my early childhood playing house with her and her girl friends. I always had my own dolls and made my own doll clothes. One of the saddest days of my life was when my sister broke one of my big dolls that I just got for Christmas. I also have fond memories of making mud pies and cakes and paper hats. We used to sell the paper hats for pins and pennies. We had a big demand for hats made from funny papers. As I got older my boy friends and I wold dig underground rooms with lots of tunnels for our club houses. We also had a room down in our basement that we used for a club house, and I remember one time, one of the members of an unfriendly gang came and knocked on our club house door. When I looked out of the peephole to see who was there, he stuck his finger in my eye.

"My Dad was a butcher by trade and didn[']t make too large a salary. The money for the big home had come from my mother[']s inheritance from her father. Since Dad had a large family to support, we didn[']t get too much spending money, so I used to take an egg out of the chicken coop and go to the store for a nickel[']s worth of candy. For Christmas we always felt lucky and happy to get one present. Mother and Dad used to wait until Christmas Eve when we were all in bed to decorate the tree and put out our presents. I remember one Christmas when Dad walked home from work, about twenty city blocks, at 10:30 at night, carrying a Christmas tree and an arm load of groceries. Then, they decorated the tree and hung red and green paper all across the ceiling, filled the stockings and set out the toys. Our stockings were filled with lumps of coal, chunks of wood, along with the nuts, fruit and candy.

"As soon as I was big enough to work, I had six or seven lawns I kept mowed during the summer time to earn some spending money. One of our neighbors was a fruit grower and had some big orchards in Bountiful and Centerville, and he would drive us out there in the summertime to pick fruit and berries so we could make a few dollars. Dad, being a butcher at Safeway at this time, I started early in life at Safeway[']s, bagging potatoes, and eventually worked up to being number one man, ready for a managership, but I received a call at this time to go on a mission and decided to leave this job to go on a mission.

"Being raised in a good LDS family, I went up through the priesthood, holding offices in the deacons, teachers, and priests quorums, and was made an elder when I went on my mission in 1930. I was called on my mission but didn[']t know whether I could go because of finances. The Depression was on at this time and my brother, Fred (Frederick Thomas Rasband), was out of work. He had just been divorced and he had the custody of his three children. The CCC (Civil[ian Conservation] Corps), a government-sponsored work corps, had just been organized, so he decided to join the CCC and give mother the $35.00 a month he received in pay to take care of the three children. They supported me on my mission with the $35.00 a month that they received from my brother.

"I attended the Emerson Grade School. I especially remember one field day which was held yearly by all the schools in the city. They would have a big parade of all the children in the city dressed in their school colors and following their school band. My brother, Oral (James Oral Rasband), had been several years ahead of me in school and had played the drums in the school band. He was a very good drummer, and when I came along, this same teacher taught I could do the same. They said I was the only one in the parade that was off beat.

"I then attended the Roosevelt Junior High School and went on the LDS High School, which was located where the Relief Society Building is. Our stadium where we played football was located where the new LDS Office Building now stands. Our gym classes were held in the Deseret Gym. I played guard on the LDS football team for three years. I then attended the University of Utah where I made the Freshman football team for the year 1929. I dropped out of college to go on my mission to Germany in 1930.

"In 1926, Dad sold our home because it was too big and had too many stairs for Mother, who had ill health most of her life, suffering with asthma. It had three floors. We moved to 67 … Street in the Ensign Stake and 21th Ward, and it was from this home and ward that I was called to go on my mission.

"I was called to go to the German Austrian Mission in September 1930. I spent two and half years around Chemnitz and Berlin, which are now in the Russian Zone, and were greatly destroyed during the World War II. Adolph Hitler was just coming into power when I was in Germany, and I saw him and heard him speak on two different occasions.

"I attended a political rally where the Crown Prince of Germany was the main speaker (Kaiser Wilhelm[']s grandson). They were singing one of the Party[']s anthems and when we didn[']t stand, they rushed over to us and were going to kick us out. One of the fellows in our group was a German, so he talked them into letting us stay because we had paid for our tickets. They let us stay but they did not make us stand up. In one town where we stayed, Kustrin, there were no bathtubs in the homes. We had to go to the hotel to have a bath. They said there were people there that were born and died without ever having a bath.

"After a very enjoyable, successful mission, I was on a ship, homeward bound, in March 1933. Hitler was made Chancellor of the Third Reich, and Franklin D. Roosevelt was made President of the United States while I was on the ship coming home.

"When I got home, I found the Depression was still on. Safeway had no openings. There were no jobs anywhere. I finally took a job at the Alta Club as a bartender. I did a lot of dating and this is when I set my record that I have told my family about so many times - - eight dates in seven days with eight different girls.

"One of these girls was Margaret Rogers Bourne, whom I married in the Salt Lake Temple on Sep. 9, 1935, by David O. McKay, who later became the President of the Church. We built us a home at 270 H Street and had one son, Russell Bourne Rasband, born Dec. 4, 1937. This was an unhappy marriage and ended in divorce on Dec. 17, 1945. I received the custody of our son, Russell, who was eight years old at the time, and the two of us boarded and roomed with Earl and Myrtle Jensen for two years.

"I was working for Wonder Bread at this time. One of the stores where I delivered was operated by a young divorced girl and her mother. They knew I was divorced and the girl had a friend in the neighborhood who was also a divorcee, Verda Nebeker, so she arranged for me to call Verda and make a date. After a courtship of about nine months, and being chaperoned by our three children through it all, we were married. The children put us through quite a few tests as to whether we wanted to make it a permanent arrangement or not. The boys got along so well together they used to pray we would get married so they would be brothers. Nancy proposed to me one day by asking me if I would be her daddy.

"Verda and I were married Aug. 10, 1947, at which time Russell was 9½, Neil 8, and Nancy 4½. We bought our home at 1936 East 6400 South, Salt Lake City, Utah, where we were able to make a good home for our children and have a happy married life. Our marriage was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on Sep. 2, 1949, and on Feb. 6, 1951, our son, Ronald A. Rasband, was born.

"I have always had a testimony of the Gospel and I look back on my Church assignments with satisfaction. I filled a Stake Mission in Ensign Stake in 1933-1934. After moving to the Cottonwood Stake, I served as Ward Sunday School Superintendent for a few years and later was a counselor in the Stake Sunday School Superintendency. On Nov. 16, 1954, I was ordained a Seventy by Antoine R. Ivins. I served as one of the seven presidents of the seventies for a few years. From Dec. 8, 1957 to Dec. 13, 1959, I filled a Cottonwood Stake Mission, being first counselor to Brother Ed Hirschi in the Stake Mission Presidency. On July 2, 1962, I was ordained a High Priest. I served as secretary to the High Priests Quorum in our ward for two years when Ken McCleary was president. I was called to be the clerk of the Cottonwood Ninth Ward in 1964, and at the present time, I am still serving as the ward clerk in the Cottonwood 11th Ward.

"I worked as a salesman for Wonder Bread on a route for 28 years. I drove a truck and received safe driving awards for 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of safe driving. My first route had 48 stops, beginning at 13th South and 7th East, running into Holladay. When I retired in 1972, I was covering 9th East and 54 South to 70th South with 13 stops. This was a good, steady job, but it was hard work. I got up at 4 … o'clock in the morning for 28 years and didn[']t get home until about 5 … o'clock in the afternoon. The first ten years we worked six days a week, finally got a half day on Wednesday off and later a full day. Getting up so early, I was always tired and fell asleep soon as I sat down. Many times I drove up to a red light and before it turned green, I would be asleep and someone behind me would honk at me to wake me up.

"I retired from the Bakery in 1972, at the age of 52, and took over the custodianship of the new Stake House and Cottonwood 9th and 11th Ward Building, which job I enjoy and hope I can continue to do as long as I feel well enough. I have been blessed with a good strong body and good health all of my life and a big appetite.

"I am proud of my four children. They have all married good mates, have wonderful families, and are active in the Church. I now have twelve grandchildren, nine of them being girls. I love my family and enjoy being with them. I hope to spend the remaining years of my life working in the Church, doing more temple work, and watching my grandchildren grow up and being with them."

The preceding is an autobiography by Rulon Hawkins Rasband. I have made a few minor "corrections" to make it easier to read; however there have been no changes in content.

Sources

• Birth:

Utah, Birth Certificates "Utah, Birth Certificates, 1903-1914," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL37-P1SC : 17 May 2017), Rulon Hawkins Rasband, 09 Sep 1909, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States; citing p. , ref. ID # , Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City; FamilySearch digital folder 004240241. "Name: Rulon Hawkins Rasband; Event Type: Birth; Event Date: 09 Sep 1909; Event Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States; Gender: Male; Father's Name: Charles Rasband; Mother's Name: Ester Hawkins"