June 9, 2024 • 48 mins
In Episode 14 of 'Dear Daughters of God,' host Stephanie Eccles shares the remarkable and inspiring journey of her mother, Joy Madeline Webb. Born in 1933, Joy faced numerous challenges, from surviving a near-fatal fall and polio as a child to overcoming societal prejudice and immense poverty. This episode recounts Joy's determination to be baptized and achieve her dreams, showcasing her faith and resilience. Featuring clips of Joy sharing her own stories, Stephanie also reflects on her personal connection to her mother's legacy of faith, love, and perseverance. The episode includes poignant details of family support, divine miracles, and the unwavering human spirit.
Thanks for listening! I'm on Instagram as deardaughtersofgod. Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=1iyjqx0cq4kbk&utm_content=qr66nqv
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (00:00):
I am Stephanie Eccles.
Speaker 3 (00:02):
This is Dear Daughters of God, episode 14,
her honorary father.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micro (00:07):
We are inspired by the true life
experiences of those around us.
My name is Stephanie Eccles.
I'm a school administrator,natural storyteller, and I am a
daughter of God.
I tell the stories of our livesfrom the perspective of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Welcome, dear daughters of God.
I address you that way becausethat's what you are to Him.
(00:30):
To our Heavenly Father, you aredear.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (00:34):
One year ago, I told you the
extraordinary story of mymother's childhood and the
summary of her life as shepassed away in the year 2016.
In the middle of her story, Isaid, someday I'll tell you the
story of how she finallyconvinced her honorary father to
allow her to be baptized.
(00:55):
Well, today is that day.
I'm going to tell you thatstory, but I'm going to do it in
two ways, not just in audio, butalso in video.
What inspired me to do that is Ifound a video of my mother
telling her childhood stories.
That's a rare commodity to finda video of my mother.
(01:15):
Look it up on YouTube under DearDaughters of God, and you'll see
my mom and me telling thesestories.
It will be the same recording aswhat you're listening to, but
you'll see it on video.
I'll use closed captioning soyou can catch every word.
Stephanie test (01:31):
that my mother will be speaking.
I'll also be using severalpictures to help illustrate the
stories that I'll be telling, soit'll be well worth viewing this
on YouTube under Dear Daughtersof God.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (01:45):
You may notice in the story that I
tell today that I changed theorder of two important events in
her life as a child.
And that's because in thesevideos that I found, she used a
different order than weunderstood them to happen.
So I followed the order that sheplaced them in.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mic (02:05):
I'll start with reviewing her
childhood because it's been solong since we've talked about it
and it leads right into herbaptism story.
All right, it began in 1933.
A little baby girl was born toLola and Lolan Webb.
They named her Joy MadelineWebb.
(02:26):
She was the first of 12children.
Joy was raised in the hills ofWest Virginia, far outside the
small town of White SulphurSprings.
But when she was very, veryyoung, she lived in Glace, West
Virginia, right across thestreet from her paternal
(02:47):
grandmother.
when she was About three, shewas visiting her paternal
grandmother named Lula SavannahFury.
And Grandma Fury, she was astuffy lady.
She would wash and iron herbedsheets and rip them off the
beds and shake them out everyday.
(03:11):
Now Grandma Fury, she lived in atall, tall house.
Yellow house with dark shuttersand very tall window.
And there was Joy, three yearold, with Grandma Fury and they
were up on the top floor wherethe four bedrooms were located.
And Grandma Fury had ripped offone of those bed sheets and was
(03:35):
flipping it like this, shakingit out.
And Joy was running into thebedsheet and running back and
just having a good time like athree year old would do.
And in one of these bedrooms,she ran into the bedsheet and
ran backwards and toppled out ofthe two story window, backwards,
(03:58):
toppling and landing in awheelbarrow on her face, the
left side of her face and body.
But Joy didn't have much time torecover from these terrible
injuries, because it was notlong afterwards that polio came
(04:22):
into their part of the country.
And Joy contracted polio alongwith many others.
And Joy's left side of her bodybecame paralyzed.
Well, Grandma Fury had suchguilt.
She was determined to keep Joyalive.
(04:45):
So she put Joy in a warm oiltub.
It was iron, oval.
And she put Joy in this oil tub.
And she massaged her lungs as ifshe, Grandma Fury, was an iron
lung, but she couldn't do itherself.
(05:08):
So she got the help of her manygrown sons, and they all took
rotations day and night,massaging the lungs of Joy in
this warm oil.
And over many days and graduallyweeks, Joy's body slowly
(05:32):
regained its strength, but herface remained completely
paralyzed.
The left side, meaning her lefteye could not blink.
The lid could not close, and hercheek was distended because
(05:52):
there was no muscle action tohold the cheek in place, and her
mouth was on the far right sideof her face.
When Joy was five years old, Shewas sent to Charleston to have
surgery.
(06:13):
The state must have paid for itbecause her family was
impoverished.
And the doctors there performedsurgery.
They took a ligament from theoutside of her leg, from her
knee up to her hip.
And they put that ligament inthe cheek with the effort of
moving the mouth closer to thecenter of the face.
(06:36):
from the few pictures that areavailable, it looks as if it
made some improvement, maybe thedistension of the cheek.
But Choik had to live with thisfacial malady for the rest of
her life.
It was about this time that herfamily moved out of Glace and
(07:00):
into the White Sulphur Springsarea but far outside of town.
they lived in a two story houseon a farm, but that didn't last
long because there was ahorrible fire and it burned the
ground, and of course there wasno insurance.
so they had to find some, someplace to live close to the farm,
and what was available was a tworoom makeshift home without
(07:24):
electricity and without runningwater.
And this is where the largefamily moved in, into this home.
It was about this time that itwas time for Joy to enroll in
school.
But, there was a problem.
The principal wouldn't allow Joyto enroll in his school because
(07:48):
of her facial malady.
Well, they tried to work it out,but there was no working it out.
There was Elihu Hoke, and thiswas Joy's maternal grandfather,
and he was determined to makeJoy's life better than it was.
(08:10):
He made an appointment with thatprincipal, and that appointment
was to be held at the districtoffice.
Elihu Hoke went to the districtoffice, and he took his shotgun
with him.
And what do you know, theprincipal changed his mind, and
Joy was allowed to enroll in hisschool.
(08:33):
Now that Joy was allowed toenroll, how would she make it
through school?
We're going to look at a clipnow of my mom talking about the
early years in her experience inelementary school.
And I want to give you a littlebit of background.
You may notice that she doesn'ttalk with a West Virginian
(08:55):
accent, and that is because whenshe was 18, she had earned
enough money to take the bus toUtah and to pay tuition at
Brigham Young University.
And when she got off of that busand walked into the dormitory,
no one sounded like her.
(09:17):
And she knew she already hadenough to get past with her
facial malady, and she wantedvery much to fit in.
So she decided she needed tosound like everyone else.
And she dropped that WestVirginian accent.
And the only time I heard hersound like a West Virginian is
(09:38):
when she was visiting WestVirginia and she was amongst
family.
I was raised in Utah.
Another thing to note is herlook.
When she was in her, maybe hermid forties, close to fifty new
surgery became available, inwhich they put a spring and then
(09:59):
eventually a small weight in theeyelid, of her left eye, and
this helped the eyelid closemore tightly, and she had that
surgery performed, and thatweight is in the eyelid, you
can't see it, but it helped theeyelid close more.
And when she was 60, she hadcorrective, a corrective
(10:20):
facelift, which brought hermouth closer to the center of
her face.
In this clip, she's 73 yearsold.
Let's go to that clip now.
Okay.
joy (10:32):
My elementary school was a very painful memory.
Because the kids were noteducated in those days to be
kind as they are now.
And I was harassed and teasedand called names and it was very
difficult.
teachers only had to go out onplayground duty every so many
(10:52):
weeks,'cause your teacher tookturns.
But that teacher who was not myteacher, she never was.
My teacher would go on theplayground every lunchtime to be
there to keep kids from callingme names and I've never
forgotten that lady name wasMargaret Prickenburger cause it
(11:14):
was very hard.
Kids were very cruel.
Later in my life when I was aschool teacher, I had a lot of
children with problems.
And I couldn't but notice howbeautiful the world was since I
was a child.
Because those children weresupported and helped and the
kids in the class loved them.
(11:34):
And would, would fight for thechance to protect them and be
with them or to do whatever theyneeded done for them.
But that was not the case insociety when I was growing up.
That, that, we hadn't made thatturn.
In society to be kind to people.
when she wasn't there, there wasa hedge around the playground.
Big green hedge, andoccasionally here and there it
(11:56):
would, the hedge would grow andthere'd be a hole in the hedge.
And the kids were brutal.
They called me Twisted Mouse andcrooked face and everything they
can think of.
So I would go hide in thoseholes.
I was in the hedge.
I'd stand and look out throughthe hedge to the street until
the bell rang and then I wouldrun back to my classroom.
When Mrs.
(12:18):
Prickenburger wasn't on theplayground.
That's where I hid in the hedge
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (12:25):
I didn't tell you that my mother
was being interviewed by hergrandson, James, and he was 16
years old in that interview.
It happened in the year 2006.
My parents had just arrived homefrom a mission in the Dominican
Republic.
And I noticed some hesitancy inmy mother and what she was
(12:45):
willing to share.
And I think that's because shewas on video.
So, I will share some of thosethings.
It was my mother's parents, andperhaps her grandparents that
were involved, that arranged forsome protection for my mother by
having her older cousin namedCarby act as her bodyguard, if
(13:10):
you will, and accompany her toschool.
to help protect her from thepersecution, the beatings, and
the stone throwing that sheencountered.
I have a picture of Joy andCarby together in the last
couple of years of their lives.
My grandson, one of mygrandsons, David Carby, is named
(13:32):
after Carby, my mother's cousinand bodyguard.
Carby was a role model to mychildren in their lives.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mic (13:41):
Hoke was the one that realized Joy's
life in White Sulphur Springswould always be shaded.
he encouraged Joy to pray for amiracle with him.
Joy followed her grandparentsreligion.
(14:02):
Ailey Hugh Hoke and hergrandmother Lily Bell Catherine,
they were members of the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter day
Saints.
Joy says that she had an innateunderstanding that God was her
Heavenly Father and loved her.
And she knew that Jesus Christwas her Savior and that His
(14:23):
Church had been restored to thisearth.
Later, but still as a child, shereceived a confirmation that the
Book of Mormon was the Word ofGod.
With this unwavering faith andan iron will that was made
stronger with persecution andpoverty, she was determined to
pray for a miracle.
(14:44):
And that miracle included fourparts.
First, was to graduate from highschool and attend Brigham Young
University.
in Utah.
She learned about this collegewith her grandfather from the
Mormon missionaries, and theydreamed of her going to the
Lord's University.
Second was to serve a full timemission.
(15:08):
third was to marry in the templeto a righteous man.
And fourth was to raise arighteous seed.
There's a question.
She was told she may not be ableto bear children having had
polio.
She told me that she alwaysprayed for a fifth part of this
miracle, and that was that shecould someday live and have her
(15:32):
own beautiful home.
She would dream of what thathome would look like.
In the meantime, she lived inthis meager two room home.
As Lola and Lolan's family grew,and this type of living did not
do well for Lola, who wascontinuing to bear children, and
(15:55):
she was often sick.
So this left a bigresponsibility on Joy, the
oldest child.
Joy, with a sun wavering faith,wanted to go to church and her
father did not practice anyreligion and did not want to be
bothered with anyone in hisfamily practicing a religion.
His wife, Lola, was Mormon, butdidn't have the willpower like
(16:21):
her daughter, Joy.
So it was Joy that pushed theissue and Joy wanted a ride to
church.
It was far too late.
a distance for Joy to walk.
Joy needed a ride, as well asher younger sister, Joy's
closest, dearest friend, AlmaRuth, who was 15 months younger
(16:42):
than Joy.
These two dear girls needed aride to church.
Joy was about 13 years old atthe time, and Alma Ruth was 12.
They wanted to go to church.
Joy had agreed.
With her father.
She had made this negotiationthat she would cook the meals
(17:06):
and take care of the young'unsand milk the cows in exchange
for her father to drive her tochurch on Sundays in the morning
for Sunday school and in theevening for sacrament meeting
and midweek for mutual.
This is for the teenagers to goto their meeting.
(17:27):
Well, Her dad replied, Oh, girl,girl, I'll take you to those
Sunday meetings, but I ain'ttaking you to that midweek
meeting.
It's a waste of gas and my time,but I ain't taking you.
(17:47):
Now this was the time duringWorld War II and there were gas
rations.
So Lowland used this as anexcuse, but really.
They'd use anything as anexcuse.
And Joy was not going to losethis argument.
So she backed up just a bit, andshe said, Well, Daddy, then I
(18:13):
ain't milking them cows.
You can milk them cows.
And then she ran.
Later on, she heard himcomplaining to her mama, saying,
Hola.
You know what that damn kid saidto me?
(18:33):
Well, she wasn't gonna let thatstop her.
She didn't know whether her namewas damn kid or Joy.
What mattered was that she got aride to church.
She and Alma Ruth wanted to bebaptized.
They had waited.
They were long past the yearsrequired to be baptized, which
(18:56):
was eight years old.
Here, they were 12 and 13 yearsold, and they'd been going to
church and been reading thescriptures and praying and
studying together, and they justknew that if they kept going to
church and asking their father,that eventually he'd give way
(19:17):
and he'd say yes.
So they just had to keep doingit, but he kept saying no, but
they were determined it wasgoing to happen.
Well, it was about this time,Joy was now in the high school,
because she was 13 in the 7thgrade, she went to high school.
(19:38):
And Alma Ruth was in the 6thgrade, so she was still in the
elementary.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (19:44):
One day at school, Alma Ruth had
terrible abdominal cramps.
She was sent to the principal'soffice.
Well, the principal sent her upto the third floor, and he left
her there all day.
No phone call was made.
At the end of the day, Alma Ruthwas so sick, she couldn't stand
(20:10):
or walk without much assistance.
When she got to her parents,they took her straight to the
hospital, and they performedsurgery and Alma Ruth's appendix
had ruptured.
Well, Alma Ruth held on for alittle while, but she died a
(20:30):
short time after that.
Joy didn't know if she could goon living without Elmer Ruth.
She had so much sadness andanger.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mic (20:47):
Alma Ruth hadn't been baptized.
Well, it had It was a, a Mormonmissionary that wrote home to
his mother and it was his motherthat did the temple work and the
baptismal work for Alma Ruth byproxy.
(21:09):
What came time that Joy, Joy hadhad enough time and she was
going to face her father.
And we're going to see a clipnow when she tells us the story
of Alma Ruth.
and facing her father and thisnegotiation of going to church.
Let's go to that clip now.
joy (21:29):
So I went to my father, and I said to him, Alma Ruth wanted
to be baptized, and you wouldn'tlet her, and she died without
being baptized.
and we had her work done in thetemple, and now she's a member
of the church.
So I'm asking you to let me bebaptized in the church, or I too
will die, and someone will do mywork.
(21:51):
So it's your choice.
And, uh, I knew that was verycruel.
And I saw the pain in his faceand I saw the type of suffering.
But, um, that didn't concern meas much as wanting to be
baptized.
And so he used some very choicewords and he was very upset.
(22:13):
And he put on quite a show, butbottom line was I stood and
watched him and said, It's yourdecision.
And I didn't move and he didn'tmove.
And so finally he turned aroundand said, All right, I will let
you be baptized.
And I says, and you will take meto church twice every Sunday.
Because it was Sunday school inthe morning and we were
(22:34):
sacrament at night.
And I will take care of thechildren, and I will cook the
meals, and I will milk the cowand he says, and all of a sudden
I saw a look in his face.
And tears came down his cheeks.
And he said, I'll do it.
(22:54):
You see that you keep yourbargain.
And he did.
And the rest of his life he tookme to church every time I went
to go.
And I did what he said.
Took care of the house, tookcare of his children, milked the
cow
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (23:09):
I want to show you one last clip
of my mom.
She's talking about being on thebuilding committee, even though
she's still a child.
They didn't have many members inwhich to put on that building
committee.
The committee's in charge ofRaising money to build a chapel.
So that's where she starts.
Then she moves to talking abouta miracle.
(23:31):
A man named Woodrow Taylor walksinto her life and then the whole
church community's life.
Woodrow Taylor is raised by hismother, but just for a short
time because she dies when he'syoung.
She teaches him that he is aMormon boy.
Then she dies shortly after he'sbaptized, and I'm not sure who
(23:53):
raises him, but he doesn't havean affiliation with the Mormon
church and doesn't understandwhat it entails.
So all he remembers is that he'sa Mormon boy, but doesn't
understand anything more thanthat.
Woodrow grows up and becomes asuccessful businessman and owns
stores, he moves into the whitesof her spring general area, he
(24:16):
has.
come upon the newspaper andthere's an article there and it
says Mormon girl wins speechcontest and that's Mormon girl
speech contest winner is at thehigh school.
That girl is my mother.
He wants to know who is thisMormon girl so I can learn about
(24:38):
the Mormon church.
So he goes to the high school tomeet the Mormon girl.
And it's my mother, and theymeet, and she tells that story.
And it's from that meeting thatthey, from there, get a chapel.
So, we'll go into that storynext.
joy (24:59):
So I was on the building fund committee.
Uh, well, me and a couple othergirls my age were just about the
building fund committee, becausewe didn't have any priesthood
owners.
I had my cousin who had beendrafted in the army, and he was
gone.
And so there was just us again.
So we had bake sales.
And we had ice cream suppers.
(25:21):
And we had, uh, we, we rentedhalls and had dinners.
And, and, and I was the, I wouldbe the, the chairperson for
these things.
And, and we raised money, andraised money, and raised money.
To, to build that, to build thechapel.
(25:41):
It was a pretty, uh, It's a veryhelpful situation.
I can't remember the littleamounts we would raise, but we
kept doing it.
We had bake sales.
We did everything.
County Fair.
County Fair.
We went over and had ice creambooths.
My dad was so funny.
He was left handed.
He couldn't do anything.
He was so awkward.
(26:02):
So I would go over and build abooth at the State Fair to have
an ice cream booth.
And dad would come over and hewould Try to, with his left
hand, try to nail up thesethings.
And it was so funny to see himdo it because he was so awkward.
So he would, he would hit it anail and swear and keep building
the booth.
(26:23):
But he did it.
He helped me build the booth.
He helped me do the whole thing.
And he said, if you worked ashard at helping me as you did at
this church, I'd be a rich man.
But we raised money to, to getthe church started.
Then, we got a blessing fromheaven.
(26:47):
Um, I was sitting in a class oneday, and I don't know what year
I was in school.
Probably a freshman, somewherein there.
And the principal came in andsaid, Um, may I speak with Joy
Webb?
And the only time he ever took achild out of a class was because
(27:08):
they did something wrong.
So, my heart And I stopped and Ithought, what did I do?
And everybody in the classturned around and stared at me
wondering what I had done wrong.
I walked out and there in the,in the corridor, in the foyer of
the building was a big, tall,handsome man in an overcoat with
(27:29):
dark hair.
And the principal took, took meover to him and said, There's a
gentleman here who wants to meetyou.
Mr.
Taylor, this is Joy Webb.
And I said, Hello, how are you?
And he says, I'm a Mormon boy.
And I said, I'm a Mormon girl.
(27:50):
And we sit there and shookhands.
This man had been baptized inthe church when he was 8 years
old.
He had never been to church.
He went to a church.
Since then.
His mother died.
His father was an alcoholic.
And he was raised by, I don'tknow who.
And he had become a very, he hadgone to college and become a
(28:11):
very successful man.
And he had a chain of stores.
He opened one of those chains ofstores in the town next to ours.
A town called Louisburg.
And he, his little daughter cameto him one day and his mother
had died when he was a littleboy.
And all she did was hold him inher arms and say, Woodrow, don't
(28:32):
forget you're a Mormon boy.
Say it again, Woodrow.
And he would say, I'm a Mormonboy.
I'm a Mormon boy.
Woodrow, don't join any otherchurch.
You're a Mormon boy.
So Woodrow, every time he wentinviting to join a church, he'd
say, I can't.
I'm a Mormon boy.
Hadn't a clue on earth what aMormon boy was So I had won a
(28:55):
speech contest.
And they put my name in thepaper and put my picture in the
paper.
It says, Mormon girl wins localspeech contest.
Don't know who decided to put inMormon girl, but that's what
they did.
Brother Taylor in the next townpicks up the paper and it says,
(29:16):
Mormon girl wins speech contest.
So he came over to my school.
He didn't know who this Mormongirl was, but he knew Mormon,
because his little daughter hadcome and said, Dad, I want to
join my little friend's church.
And he said, Oh, you can't dothat.
I'm a Mormon boy, so you're aMormon girl.
But he didn't know what thatmeant.
(29:39):
And he read the paper that saidthis kid who won the speech
contest was a Mormon girl.
So he came to school and said, Iwant to meet your Mormon girl.
And the principal says, Oh,that's, we do have a Mormon girl
here.
So he sent in the class and gotme.
I came out.
There's this handsome man.
He says, Oh, I'm so happy tomeet you.
(30:01):
I'm a Mormon boy.
I can still remember it.
I said, Oh, I'm so glad.
I'm a Mormon girl.
And when I looked at him, Ithought, Our branch president,
we're going to have a branch.
That's exactly what happened.
He was a very wealthy man.
And finally we got that churchbecause he had the money to help
us raise our part of it.
(30:21):
And we raised all that we could.
So we got our first chapel.
Brother Taylor came along.
The Mormon boy.
I'm 14 years old in this picturewith my mother.
The Mormon boys story was one ofmy favorites at this time in my
life.
Stephanie test (30:40):
you will notice in future pictures of my mother,
that when she poses for thecamera, that most of the time
she chooses a profile shot.
And when she does face forward,she does not smile because it
brought her Mount to the farright side of her face, but she
has happy.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (30:56):
Okay.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (30:56):
I want to tell you one more story
about me and my mom.
I was in junior high, in theseventh grade, and I was twelve
years old.
I was in class, and I was havinga conversation with a girl named
Debbie, and it becamecontroversial.
Debbie was saying to me, amongstmany other things, you really
don't know whether or not yourreligion is true.
(31:19):
You're only repeating what yourparents have told you.
I was taken back by her rudemanners and very strong
language.
And I did wonder if this was theway that her father spoke with
her.
As the school day went on, thatconversation played back through
my mind, and I began to questionmy own self.
(31:43):
Did I know for myself that theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter
day Saints was the true churchon this earth?
Or was I relying just on myparents testimonies?
Because I certainly was oldenough to know for myself.
So I decided, by the time schoolhad ended, I was going to take
(32:05):
it upon myself to know formyself.
I went home and I didn't tellanyone about this plan because
this was all about me knowingfor myself and my own maturity
level.
So I thought quite a bit duringthat day about a prayer that I
would say that night beforegoing to bed.
(32:29):
How would I approach this withmy Heavenly Father?
I went to bed that night.
I had my own bedroom.
I knelt down, and I, I startedwith telling Heavenly Father how
much I loved Him, because I didlove Heavenly Father.
And I told Him how much I lovedmy Savior, Jesus Christ, and how
(32:51):
much I loved the Gospel.
I loved the Gospel, and theChurch, and so much about the
Church.
And then I told Him that Ithought it was true.
And I felt in my heart that itwas true, but that I'd had this
conversation with this girlnamed Debbie at school, and she
(33:12):
said I only knew it because myparents told me so.
So I thought, it's time that Ishould know for myself.
So I'm coming on, in a humbleway, and asking if he would let
me know.
So, I might know for myself ifthis was the true church of
(33:37):
Jesus Christ on this earth.
In whichever way was best, if hewould let me know, I would just
kneel and wait.
And I planned on being there forhowever much time was needed,
but a thought came into my head.
(33:58):
Crawl in bed, and your answerwill come.
So I did, I crawled in bed, butwith much anticipation,
thinking, I'm not going to fallasleep, because I'm waiting for
this answer.
But I did fall asleep, becausethe next thing I know, I'm
(34:19):
awakened by a pleading voice.
And eventually, As I gainconsciousness, I realize it's my
mother's voice, and she ispraying next to my bedside.
And I feel a warm and peacefulfeeling as she prays.
(34:41):
My back is towards her, and Ikeep still.
The only phrase I remember inher prayer is towards the end,
when she said, Dear Father,would Thou please bless
Stephanie, that she might knowfor herself that this is the
(35:03):
true Church of Jesus Christ onthis earth.
Bless her with that testimony.
And as she said that, the Spiritbore witness to me, in my heart
and soul, that this indeedChrist was His Church.
(35:26):
My mother ended her prayer andleft my room.
In the morning, I thought backon that sweet moment, and in my
prayers I thanked HeavenlyFather and again received that
(35:47):
confirmation.
I decided this was just thebeginning.
of a moment just for me.
I couldn't share it with anyonebecause now I knew for myself
and I was mature enough to knowand it would be just for me.
So I didn't say anything toanyone.
(36:09):
And two or three weeks passed.
And then we were having familyhome evening, and I can't be
sure what we were talking about,but I wonder if we were talking
about prayer, because what wason my mind, and so strongly on
my mind that was filling mymouth, was that experience, the
(36:31):
experience at school withDebbie, my decision to come to
this prayer, and my motherkneeling at my bedside and
hearing those words and theconfirmation.
And the next thing I know, I'mjust telling the story.
When I'm finished telling thestory to my family, there's a
(36:53):
moment of silence, and then anaudible gasp from my mother as
she almost slips from her chair.
And then, she gives a knowingglance towards my father, and
then says, It was that night.
(37:17):
It was that night.
I tried to go to bed, but I knewsomething was wrong.
I knew I had to go downstairs.
I was supposed to check on thegirls and all six of her
daughters rooms were downstairs.
So she went downstairs, shesays, and she went to every
(37:40):
bedroom and all six of her girlswere asleep.
So she thought everything isfine.
And she went back to the stairsto go back upstairs.
But she stopped with a feeling.
The thought was, go back toStephanie's room.
(38:01):
And she said, alright, I'll goback again to Stephanie's room.
And she walked in and saw againthat I was asleep.
But this time she knelt down andprayed.
And prayed with the words thatcame to her mind.
And after her prayer, she feltat peace.
(38:24):
And went back upstairs and wasable to sleep.
And she thought, something willpresent itself to help me
understand why I had thisunusual occurrence where I
couldn't sleep and yeteverything was fine downstairs.
And yet I went back toStephanie's room, but nothing
(38:45):
presented itself because Ididn't say anything until about
two or three weeks later.
And when my mother had saidthat, then she thanked me.
She said, thank you, thank youfor sharing this moment.
(39:09):
Now I know why the spirit urgedme to go downstairs and to check
on my girls and to pray at yourbedside.
And I, in that moment, felt suchelation and joy that I had
(39:33):
shared this moment with her.
Because I then realized that itwas not just my moment, but it
was my moment with my mother.
And the Lord just had to get meto that point that I was ready.
to share it.
(39:56):
As I have reviewed these storiesthat I've shared with you today
and studied them and retoldthem, it's brought me back to
the original prayer asking for amiracle.
My mom's original prayer fromwhen she was a child, the one
that asked Help me, Father, togo to Brigham Young University
(40:21):
and get a degree.
she did get a degree and becamea teacher.
the second part, and help me toserve a full time mission for
the Lord.
she did.
she served in Australia.
she met another missionary,Odell Franklin Rigby.
My dear father.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (40:43):
And her third Bless me that I might
marry in the temple, the houseof the Lord.
she married that othermissionary.
they were sealed and married inthe Logan Temple.
And fourth, bless me that Imight raise a righteous seed.
(41:04):
she bore six daughters.
And she loved teaching us thegospel.
And the fifth, she Keep thatpart to herself.
I don't think she shared thatwith her grandfather, Elihu.
Bless me with a beautiful homesomeday.
And now you've seen the backdropof her interview.
That was her beautiful home.
(41:27):
I found a couple of randomjournal pages in a photo album,
misplaced, of my mother's, andthere are just a few lines that
I'm going to read to you there.
But before I read them, I shouldtell you something that she did
not know as she wrote them thatyou'll know ahead of time.
(41:50):
She's going to talk about takinga drive back to her childhood
place, Tuckahoe Road, where thathome burned down, and where they
lived in that two room home.
she's going to notice that allof these places that should be
(42:11):
there are gone.
The structures are gone.
And why they're gone, which shedoesn't understand, is the
county had decided to turn thatarea into a construction site to
repair it, to turn it into whatthey called Tuckahoe Lake and
(42:34):
Dam.
So It's abandoned, lookingabandoned, but I want you to
listen to it from her viewpoint,watching it, looking at it,
wondering where has my childhoodgone?
Stephanie test (42:51):
Quote.
I did not see a living soul orstructure on the entire day's
journey.
I found myself utterly silentinside and out.
It was as if someone haddeliberately wiped away my
history, as if my past life wasonly something I had imagined.
The silence of the place seepedinside my body and mind.
(43:12):
I wanted to yell out, where iseverything I remember?
Fear was floating around me, butI could not turn back, so I kept
driving, knowing something wouldshow up that I would remember.
But nothing was there.
Not a building stood anywhere.
Everything was gone.
I gathered my courage anddecided to turn on the radio.
(43:34):
Nothing but static was heard Ibegan to control my breathing to
deep steady breaths, tellingmyself, everything is alright,
just keep driving.
A thought started to form intomy mind, but I rejected it.
I heard myself speak out loudfor the first time on the trip.
(43:56):
What are you afraid to remember?
Nothing, I told myself, don't besilly, but the other me, that
obnoxious part of me that doesnot allow me to get by with
anything that is not quite rightor honest, stood by
unrelentingly staring me down.
I drove on in silence.
(44:17):
Slowly as I drove, came theprayer in my heart, why?
Perhaps, this trip was was notabout you.
Perhaps this trip is about them.
I changed the direction of mythoughts and removed myself from
(44:37):
them, so this is not about me.
It has been a trip to remind meof my responsibility to them, to
those whom I had been bornamong.
Most were relatives.
A few had no blood relations butwere tied to my memory and my
heart.
(44:58):
There surely is a reason that Imade that trip that day.
That those who lived there whenI was a child may complete their
journey from this world back towhere they came, to their
Heavenly Father.
How wondrous it would be to beallowed to open some of the
(45:19):
doors along the various pathsback to Him for them.
Please help me do this.
If that is part of the reason Iwas born, where I was born,
please help me to complete mycalling and my journey.
(45:43):
My mother demonstrated suchfaith in the plan of salvation.
She knew this life on this earthwas temporary.
Yet, It could seem likeeverything.
My mother's faith made itsimpler for me to see the
(46:03):
eternal view of life.
She taught me that we couldreturn to our Heavenly Father
and be like Him.
The Prophet, President Nelsongives a sermonette called
Choices for Eternity.
He says, quote, Second Know thetruth about what God the Father
(46:23):
and His Son Jesus Christ haveoffered you.
In short, they have offered youeverything.
Heavenly Father's plan for Hischildren allows us to live where
and how He lives, and ultimatelyto become more and more like
Him.
His plan literally makes therichest blessings of all
(46:44):
eternity available to us,including the potential for us
to become joint heirs withChrist.
Through His Atonement, the LordJesus Christ overcame the world.
Therefore, He is mighty tocleanse you from all
unrighteousness.
He will deliver you from yourmost excruciating circumstances
(47:06):
in His own way and time.
As you come unto Him in faith,He will guide, preserve, and
protect you.
He will heal your broken heartand comfort you in your
distress.
Amen.
He will give you access to hispower and he will make the
impossible in your life becomepossible.
(47:26):
Unquote.
I bear witness that God is ourFather in Heaven, that he sent
his only begotten Son, JesusChrist, to atone for our sins.
As we follow his words, he willmake the impossible become
possible in your life, in hisown way, As he has for my mother
(47:51):
and for me.
I appreciate you listening tothese stories that have shaped
my life.
Microphone (Samson Q2U M (48:01):
please subscribe and share this
podcast.
Let us know what you think aboutthe video portion being added.
Thank you for your support.
For now, I will say farewelluntil we meet again.
I am Stephanie Eccles.
Speaker 3 (00:02):
This is Dear Daughters of God, episode 14,
her honorary father.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micro (00:07):
We are inspired by the true life
experiences of those around us.
My name is Stephanie Eccles.
I'm a school administrator,natural storyteller, and I am a
daughter of God.
I tell the stories of our livesfrom the perspective of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Welcome, dear daughters of God.
I address you that way becausethat's what you are to Him.
(00:30):
To our Heavenly Father, you aredear.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (00:34):
One year ago, I told you the
extraordinary story of mymother's childhood and the
summary of her life as shepassed away in the year 2016.
In the middle of her story, Isaid, someday I'll tell you the
story of how she finallyconvinced her honorary father to
allow her to be baptized.
(00:55):
Well, today is that day.
I'm going to tell you thatstory, but I'm going to do it in
two ways, not just in audio, butalso in video.
What inspired me to do that is Ifound a video of my mother
telling her childhood stories.
That's a rare commodity to finda video of my mother.
(01:15):
Look it up on YouTube under DearDaughters of God, and you'll see
my mom and me telling thesestories.
It will be the same recording aswhat you're listening to, but
you'll see it on video.
I'll use closed captioning soyou can catch every word.
Stephanie test (01:31):
that my mother will be speaking.
I'll also be using severalpictures to help illustrate the
stories that I'll be telling, soit'll be well worth viewing this
on YouTube under Dear Daughtersof God.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (01:45):
You may notice in the story that I
tell today that I changed theorder of two important events in
her life as a child.
And that's because in thesevideos that I found, she used a
different order than weunderstood them to happen.
So I followed the order that sheplaced them in.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mic (02:05):
I'll start with reviewing her
childhood because it's been solong since we've talked about it
and it leads right into herbaptism story.
All right, it began in 1933.
A little baby girl was born toLola and Lolan Webb.
They named her Joy MadelineWebb.
(02:26):
She was the first of 12children.
Joy was raised in the hills ofWest Virginia, far outside the
small town of White SulphurSprings.
But when she was very, veryyoung, she lived in Glace, West
Virginia, right across thestreet from her paternal
(02:47):
grandmother.
when she was About three, shewas visiting her paternal
grandmother named Lula SavannahFury.
And Grandma Fury, she was astuffy lady.
She would wash and iron herbedsheets and rip them off the
beds and shake them out everyday.
(03:11):
Now Grandma Fury, she lived in atall, tall house.
Yellow house with dark shuttersand very tall window.
And there was Joy, three yearold, with Grandma Fury and they
were up on the top floor wherethe four bedrooms were located.
And Grandma Fury had ripped offone of those bed sheets and was
(03:35):
flipping it like this, shakingit out.
And Joy was running into thebedsheet and running back and
just having a good time like athree year old would do.
And in one of these bedrooms,she ran into the bedsheet and
ran backwards and toppled out ofthe two story window, backwards,
(03:58):
toppling and landing in awheelbarrow on her face, the
left side of her face and body.
But Joy didn't have much time torecover from these terrible
injuries, because it was notlong afterwards that polio came
(04:22):
into their part of the country.
And Joy contracted polio alongwith many others.
And Joy's left side of her bodybecame paralyzed.
Well, Grandma Fury had suchguilt.
She was determined to keep Joyalive.
(04:45):
So she put Joy in a warm oiltub.
It was iron, oval.
And she put Joy in this oil tub.
And she massaged her lungs as ifshe, Grandma Fury, was an iron
lung, but she couldn't do itherself.
(05:08):
So she got the help of her manygrown sons, and they all took
rotations day and night,massaging the lungs of Joy in
this warm oil.
And over many days and graduallyweeks, Joy's body slowly
(05:32):
regained its strength, but herface remained completely
paralyzed.
The left side, meaning her lefteye could not blink.
The lid could not close, and hercheek was distended because
(05:52):
there was no muscle action tohold the cheek in place, and her
mouth was on the far right sideof her face.
When Joy was five years old, Shewas sent to Charleston to have
surgery.
(06:13):
The state must have paid for itbecause her family was
impoverished.
And the doctors there performedsurgery.
They took a ligament from theoutside of her leg, from her
knee up to her hip.
And they put that ligament inthe cheek with the effort of
moving the mouth closer to thecenter of the face.
(06:36):
from the few pictures that areavailable, it looks as if it
made some improvement, maybe thedistension of the cheek.
But Choik had to live with thisfacial malady for the rest of
her life.
It was about this time that herfamily moved out of Glace and
(07:00):
into the White Sulphur Springsarea but far outside of town.
they lived in a two story houseon a farm, but that didn't last
long because there was ahorrible fire and it burned the
ground, and of course there wasno insurance.
so they had to find some, someplace to live close to the farm,
and what was available was a tworoom makeshift home without
(07:24):
electricity and without runningwater.
And this is where the largefamily moved in, into this home.
It was about this time that itwas time for Joy to enroll in
school.
But, there was a problem.
The principal wouldn't allow Joyto enroll in his school because
(07:48):
of her facial malady.
Well, they tried to work it out,but there was no working it out.
There was Elihu Hoke, and thiswas Joy's maternal grandfather,
and he was determined to makeJoy's life better than it was.
(08:10):
He made an appointment with thatprincipal, and that appointment
was to be held at the districtoffice.
Elihu Hoke went to the districtoffice, and he took his shotgun
with him.
And what do you know, theprincipal changed his mind, and
Joy was allowed to enroll in hisschool.
(08:33):
Now that Joy was allowed toenroll, how would she make it
through school?
We're going to look at a clipnow of my mom talking about the
early years in her experience inelementary school.
And I want to give you a littlebit of background.
You may notice that she doesn'ttalk with a West Virginian
(08:55):
accent, and that is because whenshe was 18, she had earned
enough money to take the bus toUtah and to pay tuition at
Brigham Young University.
And when she got off of that busand walked into the dormitory,
no one sounded like her.
(09:17):
And she knew she already hadenough to get past with her
facial malady, and she wantedvery much to fit in.
So she decided she needed tosound like everyone else.
And she dropped that WestVirginian accent.
And the only time I heard hersound like a West Virginian is
(09:38):
when she was visiting WestVirginia and she was amongst
family.
I was raised in Utah.
Another thing to note is herlook.
When she was in her, maybe hermid forties, close to fifty new
surgery became available, inwhich they put a spring and then
(09:59):
eventually a small weight in theeyelid, of her left eye, and
this helped the eyelid closemore tightly, and she had that
surgery performed, and thatweight is in the eyelid, you
can't see it, but it helped theeyelid close more.
And when she was 60, she hadcorrective, a corrective
(10:20):
facelift, which brought hermouth closer to the center of
her face.
In this clip, she's 73 yearsold.
Let's go to that clip now.
Okay.
joy (10:32):
My elementary school was a very painful memory.
Because the kids were noteducated in those days to be
kind as they are now.
And I was harassed and teasedand called names and it was very
difficult.
teachers only had to go out onplayground duty every so many
(10:52):
weeks,'cause your teacher tookturns.
But that teacher who was not myteacher, she never was.
My teacher would go on theplayground every lunchtime to be
there to keep kids from callingme names and I've never
forgotten that lady name wasMargaret Prickenburger cause it
(11:14):
was very hard.
Kids were very cruel.
Later in my life when I was aschool teacher, I had a lot of
children with problems.
And I couldn't but notice howbeautiful the world was since I
was a child.
Because those children weresupported and helped and the
kids in the class loved them.
(11:34):
And would, would fight for thechance to protect them and be
with them or to do whatever theyneeded done for them.
But that was not the case insociety when I was growing up.
That, that, we hadn't made thatturn.
In society to be kind to people.
when she wasn't there, there wasa hedge around the playground.
Big green hedge, andoccasionally here and there it
(11:56):
would, the hedge would grow andthere'd be a hole in the hedge.
And the kids were brutal.
They called me Twisted Mouse andcrooked face and everything they
can think of.
So I would go hide in thoseholes.
I was in the hedge.
I'd stand and look out throughthe hedge to the street until
the bell rang and then I wouldrun back to my classroom.
When Mrs.
(12:18):
Prickenburger wasn't on theplayground.
That's where I hid in the hedge
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (12:25):
I didn't tell you that my mother
was being interviewed by hergrandson, James, and he was 16
years old in that interview.
It happened in the year 2006.
My parents had just arrived homefrom a mission in the Dominican
Republic.
And I noticed some hesitancy inmy mother and what she was
(12:45):
willing to share.
And I think that's because shewas on video.
So, I will share some of thosethings.
It was my mother's parents, andperhaps her grandparents that
were involved, that arranged forsome protection for my mother by
having her older cousin namedCarby act as her bodyguard, if
(13:10):
you will, and accompany her toschool.
to help protect her from thepersecution, the beatings, and
the stone throwing that sheencountered.
I have a picture of Joy andCarby together in the last
couple of years of their lives.
My grandson, one of mygrandsons, David Carby, is named
(13:32):
after Carby, my mother's cousinand bodyguard.
Carby was a role model to mychildren in their lives.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mic (13:41):
Hoke was the one that realized Joy's
life in White Sulphur Springswould always be shaded.
he encouraged Joy to pray for amiracle with him.
Joy followed her grandparentsreligion.
(14:02):
Ailey Hugh Hoke and hergrandmother Lily Bell Catherine,
they were members of the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter day
Saints.
Joy says that she had an innateunderstanding that God was her
Heavenly Father and loved her.
And she knew that Jesus Christwas her Savior and that His
(14:23):
Church had been restored to thisearth.
Later, but still as a child, shereceived a confirmation that the
Book of Mormon was the Word ofGod.
With this unwavering faith andan iron will that was made
stronger with persecution andpoverty, she was determined to
pray for a miracle.
(14:44):
And that miracle included fourparts.
First, was to graduate from highschool and attend Brigham Young
University.
in Utah.
She learned about this collegewith her grandfather from the
Mormon missionaries, and theydreamed of her going to the
Lord's University.
Second was to serve a full timemission.
(15:08):
third was to marry in the templeto a righteous man.
And fourth was to raise arighteous seed.
There's a question.
She was told she may not be ableto bear children having had
polio.
She told me that she alwaysprayed for a fifth part of this
miracle, and that was that shecould someday live and have her
(15:32):
own beautiful home.
She would dream of what thathome would look like.
In the meantime, she lived inthis meager two room home.
As Lola and Lolan's family grew,and this type of living did not
do well for Lola, who wascontinuing to bear children, and
(15:55):
she was often sick.
So this left a bigresponsibility on Joy, the
oldest child.
Joy, with a sun wavering faith,wanted to go to church and her
father did not practice anyreligion and did not want to be
bothered with anyone in hisfamily practicing a religion.
His wife, Lola, was Mormon, butdidn't have the willpower like
(16:21):
her daughter, Joy.
So it was Joy that pushed theissue and Joy wanted a ride to
church.
It was far too late.
a distance for Joy to walk.
Joy needed a ride, as well asher younger sister, Joy's
closest, dearest friend, AlmaRuth, who was 15 months younger
(16:42):
than Joy.
These two dear girls needed aride to church.
Joy was about 13 years old atthe time, and Alma Ruth was 12.
They wanted to go to church.
Joy had agreed.
With her father.
She had made this negotiationthat she would cook the meals
(17:06):
and take care of the young'unsand milk the cows in exchange
for her father to drive her tochurch on Sundays in the morning
for Sunday school and in theevening for sacrament meeting
and midweek for mutual.
This is for the teenagers to goto their meeting.
(17:27):
Well, Her dad replied, Oh, girl,girl, I'll take you to those
Sunday meetings, but I ain'ttaking you to that midweek
meeting.
It's a waste of gas and my time,but I ain't taking you.
(17:47):
Now this was the time duringWorld War II and there were gas
rations.
So Lowland used this as anexcuse, but really.
They'd use anything as anexcuse.
And Joy was not going to losethis argument.
So she backed up just a bit, andshe said, Well, Daddy, then I
(18:13):
ain't milking them cows.
You can milk them cows.
And then she ran.
Later on, she heard himcomplaining to her mama, saying,
Hola.
You know what that damn kid saidto me?
(18:33):
Well, she wasn't gonna let thatstop her.
She didn't know whether her namewas damn kid or Joy.
What mattered was that she got aride to church.
She and Alma Ruth wanted to bebaptized.
They had waited.
They were long past the yearsrequired to be baptized, which
(18:56):
was eight years old.
Here, they were 12 and 13 yearsold, and they'd been going to
church and been reading thescriptures and praying and
studying together, and they justknew that if they kept going to
church and asking their father,that eventually he'd give way
(19:17):
and he'd say yes.
So they just had to keep doingit, but he kept saying no, but
they were determined it wasgoing to happen.
Well, it was about this time,Joy was now in the high school,
because she was 13 in the 7thgrade, she went to high school.
(19:38):
And Alma Ruth was in the 6thgrade, so she was still in the
elementary.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (19:44):
One day at school, Alma Ruth had
terrible abdominal cramps.
She was sent to the principal'soffice.
Well, the principal sent her upto the third floor, and he left
her there all day.
No phone call was made.
At the end of the day, Alma Ruthwas so sick, she couldn't stand
(20:10):
or walk without much assistance.
When she got to her parents,they took her straight to the
hospital, and they performedsurgery and Alma Ruth's appendix
had ruptured.
Well, Alma Ruth held on for alittle while, but she died a
(20:30):
short time after that.
Joy didn't know if she could goon living without Elmer Ruth.
She had so much sadness andanger.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mic (20:47):
Alma Ruth hadn't been baptized.
Well, it had It was a, a Mormonmissionary that wrote home to
his mother and it was his motherthat did the temple work and the
baptismal work for Alma Ruth byproxy.
(21:09):
What came time that Joy, Joy hadhad enough time and she was
going to face her father.
And we're going to see a clipnow when she tells us the story
of Alma Ruth.
and facing her father and thisnegotiation of going to church.
Let's go to that clip now.
joy (21:29):
So I went to my father, and I said to him, Alma Ruth wanted
to be baptized, and you wouldn'tlet her, and she died without
being baptized.
and we had her work done in thetemple, and now she's a member
of the church.
So I'm asking you to let me bebaptized in the church, or I too
will die, and someone will do mywork.
(21:51):
So it's your choice.
And, uh, I knew that was verycruel.
And I saw the pain in his faceand I saw the type of suffering.
But, um, that didn't concern meas much as wanting to be
baptized.
And so he used some very choicewords and he was very upset.
(22:13):
And he put on quite a show, butbottom line was I stood and
watched him and said, It's yourdecision.
And I didn't move and he didn'tmove.
And so finally he turned aroundand said, All right, I will let
you be baptized.
And I says, and you will take meto church twice every Sunday.
Because it was Sunday school inthe morning and we were
(22:34):
sacrament at night.
And I will take care of thechildren, and I will cook the
meals, and I will milk the cowand he says, and all of a sudden
I saw a look in his face.
And tears came down his cheeks.
And he said, I'll do it.
(22:54):
You see that you keep yourbargain.
And he did.
And the rest of his life he tookme to church every time I went
to go.
And I did what he said.
Took care of the house, tookcare of his children, milked the
cow
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (23:09):
I want to show you one last clip
of my mom.
She's talking about being on thebuilding committee, even though
she's still a child.
They didn't have many members inwhich to put on that building
committee.
The committee's in charge ofRaising money to build a chapel.
So that's where she starts.
Then she moves to talking abouta miracle.
(23:31):
A man named Woodrow Taylor walksinto her life and then the whole
church community's life.
Woodrow Taylor is raised by hismother, but just for a short
time because she dies when he'syoung.
She teaches him that he is aMormon boy.
Then she dies shortly after he'sbaptized, and I'm not sure who
(23:53):
raises him, but he doesn't havean affiliation with the Mormon
church and doesn't understandwhat it entails.
So all he remembers is that he'sa Mormon boy, but doesn't
understand anything more thanthat.
Woodrow grows up and becomes asuccessful businessman and owns
stores, he moves into the whitesof her spring general area, he
(24:16):
has.
come upon the newspaper andthere's an article there and it
says Mormon girl wins speechcontest and that's Mormon girl
speech contest winner is at thehigh school.
That girl is my mother.
He wants to know who is thisMormon girl so I can learn about
(24:38):
the Mormon church.
So he goes to the high school tomeet the Mormon girl.
And it's my mother, and theymeet, and she tells that story.
And it's from that meeting thatthey, from there, get a chapel.
So, we'll go into that storynext.
joy (24:59):
So I was on the building fund committee.
Uh, well, me and a couple othergirls my age were just about the
building fund committee, becausewe didn't have any priesthood
owners.
I had my cousin who had beendrafted in the army, and he was
gone.
And so there was just us again.
So we had bake sales.
And we had ice cream suppers.
(25:21):
And we had, uh, we, we rentedhalls and had dinners.
And, and, and I was the, I wouldbe the, the chairperson for
these things.
And, and we raised money, andraised money, and raised money.
To, to build that, to build thechapel.
(25:41):
It was a pretty, uh, It's a veryhelpful situation.
I can't remember the littleamounts we would raise, but we
kept doing it.
We had bake sales.
We did everything.
County Fair.
County Fair.
We went over and had ice creambooths.
My dad was so funny.
He was left handed.
He couldn't do anything.
He was so awkward.
(26:02):
So I would go over and build abooth at the State Fair to have
an ice cream booth.
And dad would come over and hewould Try to, with his left
hand, try to nail up thesethings.
And it was so funny to see himdo it because he was so awkward.
So he would, he would hit it anail and swear and keep building
the booth.
(26:23):
But he did it.
He helped me build the booth.
He helped me do the whole thing.
And he said, if you worked ashard at helping me as you did at
this church, I'd be a rich man.
But we raised money to, to getthe church started.
Then, we got a blessing fromheaven.
(26:47):
Um, I was sitting in a class oneday, and I don't know what year
I was in school.
Probably a freshman, somewherein there.
And the principal came in andsaid, Um, may I speak with Joy
Webb?
And the only time he ever took achild out of a class was because
(27:08):
they did something wrong.
So, my heart And I stopped and Ithought, what did I do?
And everybody in the classturned around and stared at me
wondering what I had done wrong.
I walked out and there in the,in the corridor, in the foyer of
the building was a big, tall,handsome man in an overcoat with
(27:29):
dark hair.
And the principal took, took meover to him and said, There's a
gentleman here who wants to meetyou.
Mr.
Taylor, this is Joy Webb.
And I said, Hello, how are you?
And he says, I'm a Mormon boy.
And I said, I'm a Mormon girl.
(27:50):
And we sit there and shookhands.
This man had been baptized inthe church when he was 8 years
old.
He had never been to church.
He went to a church.
Since then.
His mother died.
His father was an alcoholic.
And he was raised by, I don'tknow who.
And he had become a very, he hadgone to college and become a
(28:11):
very successful man.
And he had a chain of stores.
He opened one of those chains ofstores in the town next to ours.
A town called Louisburg.
And he, his little daughter cameto him one day and his mother
had died when he was a littleboy.
And all she did was hold him inher arms and say, Woodrow, don't
(28:32):
forget you're a Mormon boy.
Say it again, Woodrow.
And he would say, I'm a Mormonboy.
I'm a Mormon boy.
Woodrow, don't join any otherchurch.
You're a Mormon boy.
So Woodrow, every time he wentinviting to join a church, he'd
say, I can't.
I'm a Mormon boy.
Hadn't a clue on earth what aMormon boy was So I had won a
(28:55):
speech contest.
And they put my name in thepaper and put my picture in the
paper.
It says, Mormon girl wins localspeech contest.
Don't know who decided to put inMormon girl, but that's what
they did.
Brother Taylor in the next townpicks up the paper and it says,
(29:16):
Mormon girl wins speech contest.
So he came over to my school.
He didn't know who this Mormongirl was, but he knew Mormon,
because his little daughter hadcome and said, Dad, I want to
join my little friend's church.
And he said, Oh, you can't dothat.
I'm a Mormon boy, so you're aMormon girl.
But he didn't know what thatmeant.
(29:39):
And he read the paper that saidthis kid who won the speech
contest was a Mormon girl.
So he came to school and said, Iwant to meet your Mormon girl.
And the principal says, Oh,that's, we do have a Mormon girl
here.
So he sent in the class and gotme.
I came out.
There's this handsome man.
He says, Oh, I'm so happy tomeet you.
(30:01):
I'm a Mormon boy.
I can still remember it.
I said, Oh, I'm so glad.
I'm a Mormon girl.
And when I looked at him, Ithought, Our branch president,
we're going to have a branch.
That's exactly what happened.
He was a very wealthy man.
And finally we got that churchbecause he had the money to help
us raise our part of it.
(30:21):
And we raised all that we could.
So we got our first chapel.
Brother Taylor came along.
The Mormon boy.
I'm 14 years old in this picturewith my mother.
The Mormon boys story was one ofmy favorites at this time in my
life.
Stephanie test (30:40):
you will notice in future pictures of my mother,
that when she poses for thecamera, that most of the time
she chooses a profile shot.
And when she does face forward,she does not smile because it
brought her Mount to the farright side of her face, but she
has happy.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (30:56):
Okay.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microp (30:56):
I want to tell you one more story
about me and my mom.
I was in junior high, in theseventh grade, and I was twelve
years old.
I was in class, and I was havinga conversation with a girl named
Debbie, and it becamecontroversial.
Debbie was saying to me, amongstmany other things, you really
don't know whether or not yourreligion is true.
(31:19):
You're only repeating what yourparents have told you.
I was taken back by her rudemanners and very strong
language.
And I did wonder if this was theway that her father spoke with
her.
As the school day went on, thatconversation played back through
my mind, and I began to questionmy own self.
(31:43):
Did I know for myself that theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter
day Saints was the true churchon this earth?
Or was I relying just on myparents testimonies?
Because I certainly was oldenough to know for myself.
So I decided, by the time schoolhad ended, I was going to take
(32:05):
it upon myself to know formyself.
I went home and I didn't tellanyone about this plan because
this was all about me knowingfor myself and my own maturity
level.
So I thought quite a bit duringthat day about a prayer that I
would say that night beforegoing to bed.
(32:29):
How would I approach this withmy Heavenly Father?
I went to bed that night.
I had my own bedroom.
I knelt down, and I, I startedwith telling Heavenly Father how
much I loved Him, because I didlove Heavenly Father.
And I told Him how much I lovedmy Savior, Jesus Christ, and how
(32:51):
much I loved the Gospel.
I loved the Gospel, and theChurch, and so much about the
Church.
And then I told Him that Ithought it was true.
And I felt in my heart that itwas true, but that I'd had this
conversation with this girlnamed Debbie at school, and she
(33:12):
said I only knew it because myparents told me so.
So I thought, it's time that Ishould know for myself.
So I'm coming on, in a humbleway, and asking if he would let
me know.
So, I might know for myself ifthis was the true church of
(33:37):
Jesus Christ on this earth.
In whichever way was best, if hewould let me know, I would just
kneel and wait.
And I planned on being there forhowever much time was needed,
but a thought came into my head.
(33:58):
Crawl in bed, and your answerwill come.
So I did, I crawled in bed, butwith much anticipation,
thinking, I'm not going to fallasleep, because I'm waiting for
this answer.
But I did fall asleep, becausethe next thing I know, I'm
(34:19):
awakened by a pleading voice.
And eventually, As I gainconsciousness, I realize it's my
mother's voice, and she ispraying next to my bedside.
And I feel a warm and peacefulfeeling as she prays.
(34:41):
My back is towards her, and Ikeep still.
The only phrase I remember inher prayer is towards the end,
when she said, Dear Father,would Thou please bless
Stephanie, that she might knowfor herself that this is the
(35:03):
true Church of Jesus Christ onthis earth.
Bless her with that testimony.
And as she said that, the Spiritbore witness to me, in my heart
and soul, that this indeedChrist was His Church.
(35:26):
My mother ended her prayer andleft my room.
In the morning, I thought backon that sweet moment, and in my
prayers I thanked HeavenlyFather and again received that
(35:47):
confirmation.
I decided this was just thebeginning.
of a moment just for me.
I couldn't share it with anyonebecause now I knew for myself
and I was mature enough to knowand it would be just for me.
So I didn't say anything toanyone.
(36:09):
And two or three weeks passed.
And then we were having familyhome evening, and I can't be
sure what we were talking about,but I wonder if we were talking
about prayer, because what wason my mind, and so strongly on
my mind that was filling mymouth, was that experience, the
(36:31):
experience at school withDebbie, my decision to come to
this prayer, and my motherkneeling at my bedside and
hearing those words and theconfirmation.
And the next thing I know, I'mjust telling the story.
When I'm finished telling thestory to my family, there's a
(36:53):
moment of silence, and then anaudible gasp from my mother as
she almost slips from her chair.
And then, she gives a knowingglance towards my father, and
then says, It was that night.
(37:17):
It was that night.
I tried to go to bed, but I knewsomething was wrong.
I knew I had to go downstairs.
I was supposed to check on thegirls and all six of her
daughters rooms were downstairs.
So she went downstairs, shesays, and she went to every
(37:40):
bedroom and all six of her girlswere asleep.
So she thought everything isfine.
And she went back to the stairsto go back upstairs.
But she stopped with a feeling.
The thought was, go back toStephanie's room.
(38:01):
And she said, alright, I'll goback again to Stephanie's room.
And she walked in and saw againthat I was asleep.
But this time she knelt down andprayed.
And prayed with the words thatcame to her mind.
And after her prayer, she feltat peace.
(38:24):
And went back upstairs and wasable to sleep.
And she thought, something willpresent itself to help me
understand why I had thisunusual occurrence where I
couldn't sleep and yeteverything was fine downstairs.
And yet I went back toStephanie's room, but nothing
(38:45):
presented itself because Ididn't say anything until about
two or three weeks later.
And when my mother had saidthat, then she thanked me.
She said, thank you, thank youfor sharing this moment.
(39:09):
Now I know why the spirit urgedme to go downstairs and to check
on my girls and to pray at yourbedside.
And I, in that moment, felt suchelation and joy that I had
(39:33):
shared this moment with her.
Because I then realized that itwas not just my moment, but it
was my moment with my mother.
And the Lord just had to get meto that point that I was ready.
to share it.
(39:56):
As I have reviewed these storiesthat I've shared with you today
and studied them and retoldthem, it's brought me back to
the original prayer asking for amiracle.
My mom's original prayer fromwhen she was a child, the one
that asked Help me, Father, togo to Brigham Young University
(40:21):
and get a degree.
she did get a degree and becamea teacher.
the second part, and help me toserve a full time mission for
the Lord.
she did.
she served in Australia.
she met another missionary,Odell Franklin Rigby.
My dear father.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Micr (40:43):
And her third Bless me that I might
marry in the temple, the houseof the Lord.
she married that othermissionary.
they were sealed and married inthe Logan Temple.
And fourth, bless me that Imight raise a righteous seed.
(41:04):
she bore six daughters.
And she loved teaching us thegospel.
And the fifth, she Keep thatpart to herself.
I don't think she shared thatwith her grandfather, Elihu.
Bless me with a beautiful homesomeday.
And now you've seen the backdropof her interview.
That was her beautiful home.
(41:27):
I found a couple of randomjournal pages in a photo album,
misplaced, of my mother's, andthere are just a few lines that
I'm going to read to you there.
But before I read them, I shouldtell you something that she did
not know as she wrote them thatyou'll know ahead of time.
(41:50):
She's going to talk about takinga drive back to her childhood
place, Tuckahoe Road, where thathome burned down, and where they
lived in that two room home.
she's going to notice that allof these places that should be
(42:11):
there are gone.
The structures are gone.
And why they're gone, which shedoesn't understand, is the
county had decided to turn thatarea into a construction site to
repair it, to turn it into whatthey called Tuckahoe Lake and
(42:34):
Dam.
So It's abandoned, lookingabandoned, but I want you to
listen to it from her viewpoint,watching it, looking at it,
wondering where has my childhoodgone?
Stephanie test (42:51):
Quote.
I did not see a living soul orstructure on the entire day's
journey.
I found myself utterly silentinside and out.
It was as if someone haddeliberately wiped away my
history, as if my past life wasonly something I had imagined.
The silence of the place seepedinside my body and mind.
(43:12):
I wanted to yell out, where iseverything I remember?
Fear was floating around me, butI could not turn back, so I kept
driving, knowing something wouldshow up that I would remember.
But nothing was there.
Not a building stood anywhere.
Everything was gone.
I gathered my courage anddecided to turn on the radio.
(43:34):
Nothing but static was heard Ibegan to control my breathing to
deep steady breaths, tellingmyself, everything is alright,
just keep driving.
A thought started to form intomy mind, but I rejected it.
I heard myself speak out loudfor the first time on the trip.
(43:56):
What are you afraid to remember?
Nothing, I told myself, don't besilly, but the other me, that
obnoxious part of me that doesnot allow me to get by with
anything that is not quite rightor honest, stood by
unrelentingly staring me down.
I drove on in silence.
(44:17):
Slowly as I drove, came theprayer in my heart, why?
Perhaps, this trip was was notabout you.
Perhaps this trip is about them.
I changed the direction of mythoughts and removed myself from
(44:37):
them, so this is not about me.
It has been a trip to remind meof my responsibility to them, to
those whom I had been bornamong.
Most were relatives.
A few had no blood relations butwere tied to my memory and my
heart.
(44:58):
There surely is a reason that Imade that trip that day.
That those who lived there whenI was a child may complete their
journey from this world back towhere they came, to their
Heavenly Father.
How wondrous it would be to beallowed to open some of the
(45:19):
doors along the various pathsback to Him for them.
Please help me do this.
If that is part of the reason Iwas born, where I was born,
please help me to complete mycalling and my journey.
(45:43):
My mother demonstrated suchfaith in the plan of salvation.
She knew this life on this earthwas temporary.
Yet, It could seem likeeverything.
My mother's faith made itsimpler for me to see the
(46:03):
eternal view of life.
She taught me that we couldreturn to our Heavenly Father
and be like Him.
The Prophet, President Nelsongives a sermonette called
Choices for Eternity.
He says, quote, Second Know thetruth about what God the Father
(46:23):
and His Son Jesus Christ haveoffered you.
In short, they have offered youeverything.
Heavenly Father's plan for Hischildren allows us to live where
and how He lives, and ultimatelyto become more and more like
Him.
His plan literally makes therichest blessings of all
(46:44):
eternity available to us,including the potential for us
to become joint heirs withChrist.
Through His Atonement, the LordJesus Christ overcame the world.
Therefore, He is mighty tocleanse you from all
unrighteousness.
He will deliver you from yourmost excruciating circumstances
(47:06):
in His own way and time.
As you come unto Him in faith,He will guide, preserve, and
protect you.
He will heal your broken heartand comfort you in your
distress.
Amen.
He will give you access to hispower and he will make the
impossible in your life becomepossible.
(47:26):
Unquote.
I bear witness that God is ourFather in Heaven, that he sent
his only begotten Son, JesusChrist, to atone for our sins.
As we follow his words, he willmake the impossible become
possible in your life, in hisown way, As he has for my mother
(47:51):
and for me.
I appreciate you listening tothese stories that have shaped
my life.
Microphone (Samson Q2U M (48:01):
please subscribe and share this
podcast.
Let us know what you think aboutthe video portion being added.
Thank you for your support.
For now, I will say farewelluntil we meet again.
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