A Choice That Blessed Generations

Each generation influences those that follow.  I’m grateful for the choices of my grandparents that have made such a difference in my life.  One significant choice was made by my grandfather, Roy W. Oscarson, during the Great Depression. I love his personal account of this experience, which set the course for his posterity.  Grandpa passed away nearly 20 years ago, but his influence continues to bless our family.

At the time this story begins, my grandparents were a young married couple with an infant son, living in Salt Lake City. 

 He begins: “The summer of 1932 was the "bottom of the pit" as far as our economic life was concerned.  We had failed in the business venture we had dreamed would be our life's income.  We were left personally over $3,000 in debt and the best job I had been able to get was as an extra salesman at a shoe store... Not able to support a family on these meager earnings, the first move was to send Vera and the baby to Idaho [to live with her parents, the Browns] where they would get proper nourishment…. I recall how despondent and lonesome I was living by myself.”

A regional supervisor came to visit the store where Grandpa was working. When asked if he planned to stay with the company, Grandpa replied that he would like to but could not support his family on a part-time salary.  The regional manager told him that if he could get to Seattle by August 27, he could have a full time position at a new store that was opening there.  Grandpa said, “I’ll be there.” His parents drove him to Idaho to see his wife and baby before he hitchhiked to Seattle.

Grandpa continues: “I had $10 in cash.  Mother Brown, feeling I may be in need of more, loaned me $5 more, insisting I pin it to my underwear in case I fell among thieves. At the outskirts of Burley [Idaho], Vera and the families patiently watched from the car until I was picked up….”

The hitchhiking trip was difficult, slow, and sometimes threatening. He felt he was Divinely spared during this journey. He made it as far as Portland, where he bought a bus ticket in order to make it to Seattle by 7:00 the next morning, Saturday. When he arrived, he hurriedly rented a room for $2.50 a week.

Grandpa found the store where he was to have a job, but to his dismay they told him they had all the employees they needed.  The regional manager had apparently forgotten his promise!  Grandpa was allowed to work that day. He did well, so they paid him a day’s wages and told him he could come in again on Monday and work as an extra.

Grandpa was devastated by this turn of events. He wrote: “What a blow! A thousand miles from home but no better off than an extra in Salt Lake.  I had no choice so I decided to run stock, trim windows and anything I could, and hope. …Disheartened, I dragged myself back to my humble room.  Exhausted, I took off my coat and lay down on the bed. 

What happened next is indicative of Grandpa’s faith and commitment to God that would become the hallmark of his life.  He wrote:  “The next thing I knew, I heard the sound of a trumpet and drum.  I jumped up and looked out of my window down onto Pike Street where I saw a Salvation Army group on their way to a corner where they would perform.  All of a sudden I realized it was Sunday morning.  I got my bearings, washed, shaved, put on my other clean shirt and looked for the address of the (Mormon) Church.”

Grandpa concluded his account of this experience:

 “This was to become a landmark situation.  A strange city, alone, blue, disappointed, but then and in dozens of moves later our first thought was to seek out the Church.  The decision to strike out for a job and to make the Church our anchor were good decisions in what was the real beginning of our married lives.”

My grandfather’s decision to go to church that morning in 1932 set a pattern that has blessed his posterity.  He and Grandma, who later joined him in Seattle, moved dozens of times and were examples of Christian service wherever they lived. Although Grandpa eventually became a successful businessman, his first priorities were always service to God and family.  He was a man of great faith and action, who spent as much time in serving others as in developing his career. He impacted thousands of lives through his leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I love him and am eternally indebted to him and to my grandmother for their examples, teachings, and love.

Throughout our own family’s moves to several U.S. cities, we too have been blessed by making Jesus Christ our anchor as we navigate the seas of life. I've come to know that God loves me and that I have a purpose in this world.  Going to church with our family each Sunday and serving others each day brings peace to our lives.  It strengthens the love in our home and family and helps us focus on what’s most important in this world—finding true happiness through devotion to God and service to our fellow man.

Becky