Learning: "Having Been Born of Goodly Parents"

The Book of Mormon starts our with these words:

"I Nephi having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father...."  We as their children and posterity were likewise taught, either directly or indirectly by Darrel and Edna Eborn.  Neither of them had exceptional opportunities for extensive formal education, though they did attend elementary school and also high school, though neither had the opportunity to complete ther high school degrees.  The reasons were varied and somewhat hard for us in this modern age to understand, therefore suffice it to say that they both learned to read and write and do their arithmatic and to do it well.  The most important academic skill that they learned was a love of reading.  Dad could often be found reading a book, often on some subject of religion.  He did it regularly and had became very knowledgable on many gospel topics and of the history of the early LDS Church. He was always prepared to participate in Sunday School and Priesthood lessons, and what he contributed was often the most memorable point of the lesson being given.   He also liked to read magazines on agriculture, especially the Idaho Farmer, and the Reader's Digest.  Dad attended school in the old two-room Lanark School.  The school, in part, still stands and has long since been transformed into a barn and hay shed used by the J.T. Eborn family in Lanark.  Ellis got his first two years of formal schooling there as well.  Mother went to school at the Liberty Elemenatary School.  It too was a two-room school with two teachers, one for students from 1st through fourth grade and the other for students from fifth though eight grade.  By modern standards these schools were both very poorly equipped.  They were heated in the wintertime by a large wood burning stove located in the corner of the classrooms.  Near the stove it was nice and warm, maybe to warm.  At the other corner of the room the temperature was cool, if not down right cold.  Of course, class was often disrupted by the teacher putting another log in the stove.  People of the community would get wood for the schools right along with getting winter fuel for their own homes.  It was a community project. The curriculum was centered around the three R's, "reading, writing, and arithamtic, with a little history, geography and sceince thrown in for good measure.  Mother was one of the best students in her class and the school and won several school spelling bees and other contests.  Dad often rode a horse to school in the morning, especially during the winter months.  The distance was about one mile from where the old Eborn home was located.  After arriving at schhool, he would put the reins over the hroses neck and it would return home on its own.  Dad then would usually walk home along the Lanark road through cold and mud and snow.  There was no lunch at school, so the students brough their own.  I remember Dad telling us that his was always  the same almost every day.  Even at a  young age he worked for Uncle Lee and Ida Passey in the morning before school and also after school helping with the farm chores.  His reward, Aunt Ida fixed his lunch for school each day.  In his words, it was always " a cold fried egg thrown between to slices of cold dry bread."  The restrooms at the schools were outhouses located a ways from the rear of the schools.  They were icy cold in winter and always had a distincive or maybe it was a just stinky smell.  Old Sears and Roebuck catalogs served for toilet paper.  The teachers were often harsh task masters and never hesitated to show the entire class what happened to any student who got out of hand.  This was especially hard for Dad to take.  He would not stand to be physically abused for anything he might have done or not done.  The Eborn family, the family of Arthur and Nina Eborn, our grandparents had twelve children and lived on a very small farm.  In those early years they were very poor and could not equip their kids for school as they would have liked.  I remember Dad saying, and I'm sure it's true, that one major factors in him dropping out of school during the ninth grade at Fielding Acadamy was that, he often didn't have a pencil and the family couldn't afford one,  hard to imagine, but true.  Mother, on the other hand had what she needed, but Grandpa Hymas didn't when she was away at school.  He needed her at home to help out in the dairy and family owned cheese factory.  When it came time for here sophomore year in High School, Grandpa told her she couldn't go back to High School, she was needed at home.  This practically broke Mother's heart.  She loved school and loved learning and being with her friends, which she continued to do , as best she could, with or without formal schooling.  When she was living with us in Montpelier in her later years, after having catract surgery on her eyes, she would read a book or two every week and some of them were not easy books.  She would read for hours on end.  In short, I would say that both of them were educated in the proverbial "school of hard knocks" with a good deal of out-of school reading and some excellent facility for common sense.  I am proud of them, for what they did, with what they had.  So many of our students now days have been to school and  know how to read and don't do it.. This is certainly even worse than not having sufficient opportunity to attend a lot of formal school, but to take advantage of their ability to read by doing it and increasing their ability along with their understanding of life and the world around them.This photograph shows Mom and Dad on their anniversary in 1980 (58 years old)  Their anniversay was April 16th.  They were married in April 16th, 1936.  As I think back about what they had learned and what they have taught us, it's partly about doing well in school and being able read and write and all of the other things associated with formal education, but it is much more about being willing to love one another and our families, to work hard and sacrifice for the things that are really important, to be honest, and charitable with our time and our abilities.  It was about faith in the Lord and an appreciation for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was about being loyal to yourself and your family and standing tall for the things we knew to be true.  It was about being clean and orderly in the way we live and look.  It was about helping our neighbors or anyone in need.  It was about being friendly and willing to stop by a neighbor's place and spend an hour just "shooting the bull".  It was about being dependable and doing what we said we would do.  A man's word was his bond.  It was about treating others with respect and appreciation for what they were and what they did.  It was about being kind to one another.  It was about being obedient to the Lord's commandments and also obedient to the laws of the land.  It was about being reverent, not only at church, but by show respect for God's creation and looking for the beauty in things, especially  for the beauty of the earth.  I remember Dad telling me on several occasions to look for ways that nature bore witness of Jesus Christ and the fact that their is a God, who created us in His image. This has influenced my life profoundly, especially as I grew older and the real meaning and wisdom of these teachings began to sink into my sometimes indifferent or rebellious soul. Sometimes these things were not taught perfectly and more often than not they were not learned as well as they were taught, but in retrospect, I don't think that any of us did not get a good chance for the parts of education that matter the most.  Classes and Degrees have their place, and we were always encouraged to make the most of our formal schooling opportunities, but it was character, which mattered the most in the teachings we recieved from our goodly parents,  Darrell and Edna Eborn. We were "taught somewhat in the learning of our parents."  And we are all better for it,

The picture above shows Mom and Dad during the 1970s, (I don't have the exact year) in their middle age.

This is a photo of Dad (Darrrell) at aproximately the time of his marraige to Mom m(1936).

The picture below is of Mom and Dad on a typical Sunday morning, ready for church, They seldom missed their meeting and held sveral responsible positions in the Lanark and Liberty Wards.  One thing the enjoyed doing together was singing in the wad choir and they sometines sang duets together for church functions.

 

The picture below is of Mother about the time we moved back to the Bear Lake Valley form Twin Falls in 1969  She was very good to us and helped us get settled in the home on the Lyme Hmas place in Liberty, where we lived for three years.

We appreciated her assaisantance in so many ways,

This again is a picture of Dad ready for church at about the same time as the foregoing picture of Mom.  I always thought they we a good looking couple and appreciate their example in so many ways.

This is a picture of mother at approximately the time of he marraige, maybe just a bit before.

A photocopy of the marraige certificate of Darrell and Edna Hymas Eborn.  They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and had none of their friends or family with them at the time of this sacred and special event in their lives.  We, as children were born in the convenant (BIC).  Those simple letters mean way more than any of us fully understand and have influenced our lives far beyond what we usually consider.  They set a great example and were serious about keeping the covenants made in the Temple those many years of their mairage which they new full well was eternal.  Mom spoke to me hundreds of times about that druing the final years of her life.

Another picture of Mother, Edna Hymas Eborn, from about the time of her marraige at the age of 23.

by Bart