Pearl Sevey

Pearl Sevey (1878-1938)

The Theodore Turley Family Book, pp. 212-215

Pearl Sevey, the daughter of George Washington and Phoebe Melinda Butler Sevey, was born October 17, 1878 in Panguitch, Utah. She was the baby in a family of 14, and her mother died when she was 14 years old. Her father went to Mexico in 1885 with his two other wives and evidently his wife, Phoebe, preferred to stay in Panguitch. Several of her older children were married and living in or near there at this time. Phoebe was 48 years old and she died seven years later at the age of 55.

Pearl then went to Mexico to live with her father. It was here that she met Hyrum Turley and they were married. Pearl and Hyrum had eight children born in Mexico and four in Woodruff, Arizona.

An experience she had soon after the Saints had to leave Mexico is worth relating. The family stayed in Thatcher, Arizona for a while, father, Hyrum, went on to Woodruff to find a job and a place to live. When the family was on their way from Thatcher to Woodruff they had to stay over in Albuquerque , New Mexico for 2 or 3 hours. Marion, the baby, was sick. He cried and cried and wouldn’t be comforted at all. Finally a Salvation Army woman came up and asked what was the matter with the baby. Mother said he was sick. "Why don't you take him to a doctor?" asked the woman. "We don't have the money," Mother replied. The woman left and came back with a doctor. He said the baby would die if they went on to Woodruff. Mother began to cry, and said she couldn't stay there because she didn't have a cent. So the Salvation Army took over. They put Mother and the baby in the hospital and the other children were taken in by some members of the Salvation Army. Mother never forgot that act of kindness and she was more tolerant of other religions, and so were we older children, because of that experience.

Pearl Sevey Turley taught in Primary, and also was a visiting teacher in Relief Society for many years. She was president of the Primary in Woodruff for some time. She likely was selected for the position because of her dependability as a teacher. The Stake Primary president complimented her for her dependable and conscientious work in that organization.

Her outstanding characteristics were patience, kindness, and long-suffering. At the time of her death a new home was being built for her, which she didn’t have the privilege of living in. She remarked a few weeks before her death that she wouldn’t be able to live in it. She was a hard worker, hoeing in the fields, milking cows, and making cheese. Her mother, Phoebe Butler Sevey, milked cows and made cheese so Pearl had learned how to do these things when young.

Pearl lived by the Golden Rule, doing unto others as she would like to be done by.

She suffered considerably with rheumatism before she died. The doctor said she died of a rheumatic heart. She was 59 years old. Death came to her on April 6, 1938 at Woodruff. She was buried in the Woodruff cemetery the next day.