IN MEMORIAM: UNCLE GLEN

Uncle Glen died on 4 May 2009 at the age of 90. I visited him a couple of times in 2007 and 2008 when he was obviously in decline. He was one of those guys who got better looking with age; at the end, he looked just down right distinguished.

He was my father’s brother who earned his living as a public school science teacher married to an elementary school teacher. His career went through various schools and various phases from 1946 to 1981.

The children of Henry and Elisa Long Soulier lasted in time a little over 103 years which, for a total of six kids, is really rather a long time. Here is the official listing and names and years.

child lifespan spouse and life span

Ernest 1906 1907

Iona 1908 1986* Erven 1905 1993 Married 1933

Clarence 1912 2000 Cora 1918 2004+ Married 1949

Wesley 1913 2004+ Lucille 1912 1996 Married 1938

Paul 1916 1991 Gladys Married 1942

Glen 1919 2009 Ardis 1920 1986* Married 1940

* Both died in 1986 on a 15th day of a month, Ardis in August and Iona in December.
+ Both died within a month of each other, Wesley in January, Mother in February.

The family legend my parents taught me about my adoption involved Glen and Ardis. In the 1950s, couples who wanted to adopt had to wait for years for the legal tumblers to fall together. For example, my parents filled out the legal documents and paper work and endured the visits in the early 1950s, and then waited and waited and waited until suddenly without warning on 12 September 1956 the representative from the Children’s Society of Utah telephoned from the Salt Lake City office to tell my parents that they had a boy to place with them. This caught them quite unaware and right in the midst of the 1956 peach harvest. Eventually Mother placed a call to Ardis to tell them about the predictament, and Glen and Ardis came through with a big load of baby things that they no longer needed, Scott being 6 years of age and Jacqueline 4. They stopped by Glen and Ardis’s home in Midvale on the way home for supper and supplies.

Another aspect of this legend is that when the Society representative telephoned on 12 September, they had another baby boy in mind to place with them. It turned out though that child had relatives in Provo, so when my parents arrived the Society’s social workers sent them away for an hour while they made a necessary adjustment. The feeling of this tale was that I was some sort of last minute replacement, though I thought it added to the glamour of the situation.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Glen’s family and Clarence’s family used to camp together on occasion in the Mirror Lake region. I have a photo of Scott and me at Mirror Lake when we both quite little boys.

And now – for all the children and cousins of the family of Henry and Elisa Soulier, there is no one between us and death. To Erven, Iona, Clarence, Cora, Wesley, Lu, Paul, Gladys, Glen, Ardis, Gayle – my love and my thanks for everything.