Sharing our Links to the Past
by Wally and Frances Gray

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Nedra Turley (Mrs. Willard Otto Lee) (1918-2007)

The Theodore Turley Family Book, pp. 253-254 (Published 1977)

(Autobiography)

I, Nedra Turley Lee, was born in Woodruff, Arizona on Sept. 22, 1918.I was the eleventh child of Hyrum and Pearl Sevey Turley.  I had four sisters and seven brothers.  I wasn't very well as a child.  I had tonsillitis.  I was baptized Oct. 3, 1926 by Elmer Hatch in the city ditch. When I was in eighth grade I had typhoid fever, whooping cough and measles.  I only went to school six weeks.  I did most of my lessons in bed.  I learned to walk, but my ankles and knees were weak for about a year.

I helped my mother a lot as I had five older brothers. I remember making cheese.  The summer before I was married I got to know my mother very well. We quilted quilts and enjoyed each other very much. My mother died just ten days before I was married--very suddenly with a heart attack.

I  met Otto Lee on April 1, 1936. We went together for a year and were married in the Mesa Temple April 15, 1938.  It was during the depression and we had a hard time that first year. We lived with Otto's mother for three months, then we lived with my dad for three months.  I wouldn't advise anyone to do this.  Then we moved to Patterson’s Ranch; there we were very happy.  Our first child we named Marva, born Nov. 5, 1939. 

Otto worked on another ranch the next year. We had another child a son we named Jerrold Otto, born Dec. 28, 1941. He only lived four months and died of croup and asthma. After losing our baby we were both unhappy. We got a chance to go to Phoenix and work on a ranch. We lived there nine months, then moved to Mesa just before our second son, David Ryan, was born Sept. 30, 1943. We moved three times in the next four years. We lived next to my dad and Aunt Lottie. My father died while we lived there on Thanksgiving Day, 1946. Our son, Vance, was born April 30, 1947. When he was two, we bought a home on 339 W. 9th St. in Mesa.  It was my first real home.  I sure enjoyed it there. 

We had another girl, Bettina Renae (Tina) born February 6, 1952.  When she was 17 months old we had another girl, Rhonda Faye, born July 5, 1953. The two girls were very close, almost like twins. When Rhonda was three our little girl Debra Sue was born May 3, 1956. She was a Mongoloid child.  This was a great shock to me.  It saddened me very much; it shook my faith very much.  I haven't recovered completely yet    We had another son, Richard 0. , Oct. 26, 1957. When he was six months old we moved back to St. Johns. We moved twice.  The second time we had another son, Kevin W. on July 30, 1959.  In April of 1959 we took Debra Sue to Coolidge to a school for retarded children.

We bought a lot and built a house and moved in January, 1962. We built most of it ourselves.  We had the plumbing, electricity, and foundation, and the finish cupboards—we did the rest.  Otto fixed me a Beauty Shop in the master bedroom in front.  I have had it eight years. On Dec. 9, 1972 Otto had throat cancer surgery.  It sure was a test of faith again.  He is finally getting better.

My life hasn't been a very happy one.  I have tried to make the best of it.  I have worked in the Church in many jobs mostly teaching Primary, Sunday School, Mutual, and finally, genealogy.  If it hadn't been for my faith and the Church, I don't know what I would do.  Our oldest son, David, filled a mission to Scotland. My eight children are my salvation. My testimony of the Gospel has been a constant guide in my life. I hope I can stay true and endure to the end.  I enjoy my heritage and am proud to be one of the Turley relatives.

[Death date from IGI]