Ardell and the Beer Story

Ardell tells the following story about a lesson learned. He says that he and Fay learned how to make beer from Fay's brother, Guy. They brewed up a batch of beer and stored it at Dad's mom's home in Blazer. She had a little cellar under the porch and that's where they kept it.

Dell says that somehow a group of kids from McCammon found out about it and came and stole the beer. Ardell was really mad about that. He says that there were about five of those kids. He goes on to say: "Instead of using my smarts, and getting a group of my own, I met them outside and one of the kids was a boxer. He had taken boxing in school. But he seemed to be the ring leader, and he and I got into a fight. The last thing that I remember before I passed out is that at the same time my brother came running out. Howard Williams ran in and told my brother Don that I was having a fight and he better come and help. (Howard was the son of his sister Florence Williams, Ardell's sister) Just as he came out the door, one of those kids....hit me behind the ears with something and I just passed out."

But before I passed out, I heard my brother say something to the effect of, 'Who started it?'...The kids opened his mount and Don hit him in the nose sideways and broke his nose and knocked him flat as a pancake. He reached over and got another one, and then they started to run. I had a welt behind my ear. That's the last I could remember. "They took me home and I lost my bridgework, and my mouth was all cut up, and I can remember my mother getting after me saying I shouldn't be doing those kind of things. If I hadn't made beer I wouldn't have gotten in trouble..." This is their mother:

Fay and Dell Byington Courtship and Poem

In lieu of Valentine's Day coming up, mom and I thought that we would post a poem that Grandma B wrote about her and Grandpa's courtship:

                 An Old Love Story

Twas' at a ball I met him He asked me for a dance.
I danced with him and it was swell Cause deep in "Love" I really fell.
I knew then, that there'd never be Another man so nice as he.
His eyes they are the deepest brown Dark curly hair, his head does crown.
And then began, what seems to me The loveliest romance ever to be.
After I met him at the ball Every week he came to call.
Quite late at night, twas' after dark He drove and found a place to park.
I think I knew that he would say "You're sweet, you know. I love you, Faye."
And long before he spoke I knew That I would say "I love you too."
And there with no one else to see He placed a ring on finger three.
In October of thirty five We decided to take the dive.
It was then a wedding band Joined the ring on my left hand.
Seven years of love and play Have passed by since that day.
Now we have a child age three We're the happiest couple that ever could be.

Dell and Fay Byington

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

Here is the next story....I know that it's been awhile...

This one is about Anker August Kofoed. Anker was a true believer in keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. It grieved him greatly to see someone breaking that commandment, as he knew that if they did they would suffer in some way. When we obtain blessing from the Lord it is by obedience to the laws. An instance happened to show this: One Sunday there was a group of men and boys who did not go to church and were looking for something to do. One of them had a wild horse and they decided to ride it. Anker came by and begged them not to do this on a Sunday. He told them that it wouldn’t turn out right, but they just laughed at him. There was one promising young man in the group who took an oath and said that he could ride anything. He was thrown from the horse and was hurt very severely. He survived and lived a few years, then he took his own life.

Anker August and Ellomine Kofoed

Grandma Byington's mischevious school days

Okay....here is another story....this one is about Grandma Byington (Fay Kofoed Byington). This one is from her book "Kofoed Footprints" book. "In the old school house we had an upper floor and a lower floor plus a basement where the furnace was maintained. The high school kids were on the upper floor and the grade school kids all on the lower floor" "No lowly grade school kid dared to go up those stairs without permission or one of the high school kids threatened us with some dire consequence." "When I was finally up the stairs with the select group we thought it was our duty to threaten the little first graders who dared invade our territory." "One day two or three of us were standing by an open window when one of these little creatures came walking into the room. We threatened bodily harm. When that didn't work we said we would throw him out the window. One of the boys grabbed him. I grabbed one arm and he took the other and we put him out the window. He was kicking and yelling when all of a sudden we heard the teacher coming. The boy who was helping me hold that yelling, squirming bit of humanity, turned and ran from the room. So you can guess who was caught holding that little person out the window." "Of course, I couldn't drop him two floors to the ground. You should have seen that teacher's face when I dragged that kid into the room." "This was the only time I was almost expelled from school. It taught me a good lesson. From that day to this I have never fully trusted the male species."

Lava Hot Springs School

Fay Byington