Dear Relatives

JOHN DANIEL VAN WAGONER

John Daniel Van Wagoner was born 3 December 1866, at Provo, Utah County, Utah. After his parents had been told by his third grade teacher to withdraw him from school as he would never be able to learn and should be taught a trade, he was the only boy to graduate with his class of sixteen girls from the Provo High School. He also graduated from the Utah State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah, and from the Georgetown University Law School, Washington, D.C. He was private secretary to Elder John A. Witdsoe, President of Utah Agricultural College at Logan, Utah. Later he went to Washington, D.C. and worked as the Private Secretary to Elder Reed Smoot, United States Senator from Utah, for about ten years. He left to become a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Office, U.S. Army, served as a lawyer during World War I, and spent sometime overseas in Europe after the Armistice. He returned to private law practice in New York City, but later attained the New York Government in their Public Utilities Branch. He wrote special lesson material for courses in the LaSalle Extension University (correspondence school of Chicago) on city gas, water, and public transportation subjects. He married Fay Armistead Hull of Roanoke, Virginia, on 24 October 1918, and they had one daughter, Olga Petersen, who has five children. He died of heart attack in his home in Brooklyn, New York on 2 March 1963.

RAY VAN WAGONER

Ray Van Wagoner was born 28 February 1890 at Provo, Utah County, Utah He filled a mission for LDS Church to Holland in 1910 and was District President. He was a Military Police and an Interpreter for the US Army of Occupation at Coblenz, Germany, after World War I for two years. He was salesman for Schilling Company and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for a time. He then went into the wholesale gas and oil business with his brother, Joe, in Anaheim, California. He married Goldie Thorn of Ogden, Utah on 20 June 1922. They had one daughter who died shortly after birth. He was Chairman of the Draft Board in Anaheim during World War II; was Exalted Ruler of the Elks Club; and City Alderman of Anaheim. At times he was Acting Mayor or Anaheim and was later the police Commissioner. He died of heart attack in Beaver, Utah, while on a vacation trip on 14 October 1958.

JOSEPH STARK VAN WAGONER

Joseph Stark Van Wagoner was born 23 February 1892 at Provo, Utah County, Utah. He was an electrician and construction worker and traveled around the Western United States working at many jobs. He was Manatger of the Puget Sound Light and Traction Company at Snowqualmie Falls, Washington, near Seattle for many years. He married Verle Imogene Case in Seattle on 3 June 1912. They had two sons. He moved to Anaheim where he went into the Wholesale oil and gas business and built up a thriving business and brought his brother Ray, in as a partner. He was active in civic life of the community. He was divorced by his first wife and later married Merle Virginia Whitmore. They married on 2 August 1939. He retired and lives in Anaheim, California.

EARL VAN WAGONER

Earl Van Wagoner was born 27 September 1895 at Provo, Utah County, Utah. He attended BYU in Provo and later graduated from the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, Utah, and the George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. He was private secretary to Elder John A. Witdsoe, President of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, Utah and later went back to Washington, D.C. to work as a private secretary to Elder Reed Smoot, US Senator from Utah. He later was a lawyer in General Counsel’s Office, Bureau of Internal Revenue, in Washington, D>C> He married Elizabeth White Stewart on 23 September 1931 in California and they had two daughters and three sons. He was an FBI Agent in Chicago, and was among the agents who captured the Notorious criminal John Dillenger. He later was Regional Manager of the Federal Trade Commission of all the Western States, with headquarters in San Francisco. He died of a heart attack at his home in Palo Alto, California on 15 December 1957.

LOUIE ELIZABETH VAN WAGONER (SMITH)

Louie Elizabeth Van Wagoner (Smith) was born on the 30 on November 1893 at Provo, Utah County, Utah. She graduated from the Brigham Young University Normal school there. She was called to fill a mission in the Hawaiian Islands in 1913 where she taught at the Church school of Laie, Oahu, Hawaii. Upon her return she went to Snowflake Stake Academy. There she met and married Jesse Marsden Smith on 19 July 1917. She was active in the Church and served for 23 years on the Stake Primary Board. Louie was a most thoughtful and benevolent neighbor to all in the community where she was greatly loved for her Christ-like kindness and charity. She died suddenly from an operation in Mesa, Arizona on 16 June 1939. She was deeply mourned by all. The priesthood brethern worked night and day in order to have the Chapel of the new Church building finished to hold her funeral there. The funeral was one of the largest ever attended in Snowflake. The following September, Louie’s husband, Jesse, was called to serve in the Stake Presidency as a counselor. In 1950 he was made Stake President and he ser4ved in that position until 5 June 1963, when he was called to be the President of the Arizona Temple at Mesa. Jesse married Marvel Etoile Bailey on 17 December 1943 which added two more daughters and three sons to the family.

LELAND VAN WAGONER

Leland Van Wagoner was born 7 April 1899 in Provo, Utah County, Utah. He moved to Seattle, Washington where he worked for the Willard Storage Battery Company and also worked in Portland, Oregon for the same company. He returned to Utah where he married Leona Elizabeth Mildenhall of Provo, Utah on 2 June 1920. They moved to Seattle, Washington, where he worked for the Eastman Kodak Company. They had one daughter and three sons. He was a fine photographer and when they moved to Provo, Utah he had his own photo finishing store there for fifteen years. Later they moved to Salt Lake City where he was the Chief Staff Photographer on the Salt Lake Tribune for ten years. He later was in charge of the Tabernacle Organ in Salt Lake City. He toured the organ factories in the East and Canada to teach technicians installing the new hundred thousand dollar organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. He was in charge of all the organs in the LDS Church program. His first wife died and he married Mary Sheets Bowman on 28 September 1940 in Salt Lake City. They were divorced and he married Irene LaRue Jacobson on 27 June 1952. He now has his own Photographic studio and camera repair shop at his home in Salt Lake City, Utah.

LEAH VAN WAGONER (BARR)

Leah Van Wagoner (Barr) was born 8 November 1903 in Provo, Utah County, Utah. She was an organist of Bonneville Ward, LDS Church, in Provo and played for a ballet dancing school in Provo during her high school days. She graduated from Provo High School and attended George Washington University in Washington D.C. for three years, while working for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. She later transferred to Salt Lake City for two years with the Internal Revenue Service. Upon her return to Washington, D.C. she married George S. Barr form Charleston, West Virginia, on 8 of August 1931. They traveled into all but three of the 48 States of the Union. They had no children. She was Secretary to the Assistant of the WPA Administrator and later secretary to the National Director of Adult Education Program of WPA. Later she became secretary to the Assistant to the US Commissioner of Education for five years. She divorced George S. Barr on 11 August 1945 in Reno, Nevada. He had been overseas as Major in the US Army for two and one half years and had received the Bronz Star Medal. She later was secretary briefly to Ernest L. Wilkinson, lawyer, who later became President of the Brigham Young University. She was secretary with the US Department of State and attended the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City in 1946. She was in a revolution in Bogota, Colombia, South America, as part of the US Delegation to the Ninth International Conference of American States in 1948, while the city was burned down around them and their building bombed. They were taken out by plane to Panama. She was later Secretary to US Congressman from Utah, Douglas Stringfellow. She moved later to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1953, where she became secretary to the State Adjutant General of the National Guard. She was Secretary to the Governor of Arizona, Howard Pyle. After his political defeat she worked as Fiscal Management Clerk and secretary to Personal Director of Internal Revenue Service. Later she went to Morocco, North Africa, in 1956, with US Army Corps of Engineers. While there she toured all of Europe and had a Mediterranean Cruise to Turkey, Greece, Lybia, etc. Upon her return to Arizona she was Clerk of the Draft Board, Selective System, in Yuma, Arizona, and was transferred back to Phoenix, Arizona, where she retired in1963. Aunt Leah passed away on August 29, 1968 after a long illness. Her contribution for this book and the genealogy of the family was very Great.

The following is a Tribute to Aunt Leah Van Wagoner Barr, Snowflake, Arizona, September 2, 1968:

Aunt Leah—words of magic, words of delight, words of love to a small boy. Let me set the scene: The town, a small windswept town in Northern Arizona filled with houses with no inside plumbing and people who had too much pride to know they were poor. The time: a week after Christmas. The Place: a board and batten Post Office which was more candy store than Post Office both of which were presided over by a little kindly man who belied his Scotch ancestry. It was the school noon hour and all the families in the town had a representative boy or girl or husband or wife while the Postmaster called off the names of those who received Christmas packages. When a called name coincided with that of a waiting child, you would hear a squeal of delight as the child surged through the waiting crowd. This particular boy and his smaller brother waited in vain for their name and sadly walked on home. “I wonder if Brother Murray didn’t see it,” one said. “Maybe they left it in Holbrook, “the other said. They were talking of the one package they knew would come; the one that had always come; the one that had the real kids toys in it; the one that came this year and every year; the one from Aunt Leah.

Another scene. The town of Provo. The year about 1925. These same two boys were there. Aunt Leah was there. Aunt Leah was there. They all had returned from a trip down town. The boys were crying. Aunt Leah was crying and speaking to their mother. “I told them to be careful; I told them not to cross the street. But they did anyway and this car almost hit them. To punish them I took their pop corn away.” But as soon as she finished crying she gave their popcorn back to them; she was still the magic lady.

Another Scene. The city was Washington, D.C. The year about 1941. A scared young jobless country boy who had just been married arrived in Washington after an endless bus ride from Salt Lake City. He had only one point of reference in the city – his Aunt Leah. She did not fail him - she took him in. they, she and her husband, George, regaled him with the wonder of the nations capitol; explained the intricacies of travel in the city and counseled him in the ways of finding a job. Aunt Leah was a part of the wonder of Federal service and she knew her way about in that maze. An outsider was bewildered and ran into successive stone walls; the insider knew where to go and what to do to find the job. The boy found a job as an elevator boy in the House of Representatives Office Building – a humble beginning – but a job and with this the boys wife could join him. The Magic still held. The lady was vibrant, alive, part of what went on; living in the hub of the world.

Another scene. The place is the pre-existence; the time is right after the turn of the century, earth time; the speaker is the Master of the Universe. “Leah”, he said, you have been with us only a few million years but it is time for you to graduate from this place up here; and because you have this special magic, you are enthusiastic and generous; you love greatly and are kind; you will go to this wonderful family in which my Son’s Gospel is loved and dwells. And Leah, in spite of how much we love you, when you are down there you will not remember us here and you will make your new way, using only the wonderful brain and understanding that you have been given. The only thing that will go with you is this fine spirit of yours but perhaps way back in a small corner of your mind you will know that we love you and that you are coming back to us.”

And with some such preamble Leah left the familiar land where she had dwelt a long time with her Heavenly Father and entered into the World on 8 November 1903. And she entered into a family where people were thoughtful, not only of each other, but of those outside the family. This was a family where money was scarce, but ambition was high and indeed it was a family where the Gospel of Jesus C dwelt. Here she went to Primary and to Sunday School and to Sacrament Meeting. Here she developed her love for literature and learning and music; here she developed the aspirations that led her away from the family hearthstone to Washington which had been a land of opportunity for two of her older brothers. This city was to be her home for most of her life. Here like all her brothers and sisters on earth Leah made some mistakes; here she found some triumphs; here she found some pain and sorrow and here she found the glory of achievement. She had great aspirations and she worked toward them. Here she turned her music talents to the benefit of her church. Here she married and later here she separated from her husband. Following the separation, the lure of far away places seized her and she spent a year working for the government in Colombia, South America; then she went to Phoenix and then she spent two years in Asia Minor and then she came to Phoenix and then she went to Yuma and then she came back to Phoenix. Here her body began to fail her; it shrank and became just a suggestion of the beautiful woman she had been. But with her failing strength she found strength of spirit and many of the things she had always wanted to do in the church she did here painfully and carefully. She worked in the Relief Society; she went to the Temple; she worked untold hours at her genealogy. Like many great ones of his earth; her soul found utterance through her flesh grew weak. With Job she could say,: “Though after my skin worms have consumed this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” And she knew with assurance that Christ did indeed say, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” And she believed.

A final Scene: A guardian angel is reporting to his Master. “Master, the woman Leah Barr has fought the fight and has run the course. Her body confines her spirit over much; I would recommend that this spirit be brought here to Paradise where it can again finish tasks worthy to its scope. Her body falters and her senses grow dim; there is no work; no person there for her to love; her generous spirit and her great mind are fettered by a body which will not respond. Here we have need of a soul such as hers; here there are hearts to touch; here there is music that has not been played; here her spirit can have full flight.

And the Master who knoweth all things said on August 29, 1968 mortal time. This day shall she be with us in Paradise.

May those of us who remain here; those of us who have loved Leah; so live that when our summons comes to “fly to the Eternal realms beyond” we may go as the Eagle mounts toward the sky with full assurance that the welcome mat will be out.

I pray this in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Van Marsden Smith