Oral History of Lois Manton

ORAL HISTORY TRANSCRIPTION

GRIGGS: I am at the home of Lois Sutton Manton. She was born on February 23, 1912. We are conducting the interview at her home which is located at 794 East 150 South in Provo. The date is August 1, 1988, and it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Could you tell me about some of your earliest remembrances of Provo?

MANTON: I remember the Islands in Center Street and the lamps down the middle of the street that went up to the State Mental Hospital. I also remember in my school days, that every Thanksgiving (and I don't know whether it was just the elementary schools or if the high schools were included) we'd all gather in the Provo Tabernacle for a Thanksgiving program. The boys would have big buckles on their shoes and the girls would have Puritan collars. I think maybe we had the Puritan hats, also. I can't quite remember. But I do remember the collars and the buckles on the boys' shoes. It seems like that happened for two or three years.

GRIGGS: Where did you live?

MANTON: I lived just kitty-corner from the Maeser School at 230 South 500 East. Then I moved around the corner to 530 East 200 South. So, except for the time when I went to California, I've lived in this end of the town.

GRIGGS: You have seen a lot of changes in downtown Provo then?

MANTON: Oh, you bet!

GRIGGS: Tell me what it was like when you just first remember Provo.

MANTON: Well, everybody would go to town on Saturday, and there were a lot of people on the street. We would know everybody. But I don't know anybody now. My dad's store was located at about 78 West Center. In between the Sutton Café and my dad's store was the Provo Bakery. They had the good baked goods then just like they do now. My father, in his store, would call people and get orders for hot cross buns for Easter. The Provo Bakery would bag all the orders for hot cross buns and the delivery service that my dad had with his store would deliver the buns on the Saturday before Easter. That was Easter to us. Of course, Easter was also a hiking day. We didn't buy new clothes. We had a picnic and went hiking on Saturday before Easter. If it rained, we were brokenhearted. We'd always go up to the Maeser Memorial. There was only one building up there, and we would roll our eggs down the hill. Sometimes we'd eat our picnic up there and we'd hike up to the mountains before all those homes were up there.

I remember one time there was a lady who was acting kind of queer and she had a little red wagon. She was walking around and she frightened us. Later, we found out that she was someone who had escaped from the State Mental Hospital. Of course, somebody reported her and they came and got her.

GRIGGS: Where were you when that happened?

MANTON: We were on Memorial hill. We hid behind the buildings because we thought that she was going to hurt us. I don't think she would have. She was just acting kind of odd. So, now let's see, what other interesting things are there?

GRIGGS: Downtown.

MANTON: There were several grocery stores there. Speckard's was right next door to my dad's. He just had the meat market. Right across the road was the old Orem Station where we'd ride the Orem to Salt Lake. One time it had a wreck when my mother was on it. Somebody ran into it on Center Street. The old Orem commuted between Provo and Salt Lake and it stopped at all of the small towns like Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Lehi. It would take us a couple of hours to get to Salt Lake because it'd stop for everything.

GRIGGS: What did they charge? Do you remember how much it was?

MANTON: I can't remember. I wish I could. But very, very little, naturally. Maybe it cost fifty cents or less. I don't know. But that was fun. That station was where the JCPenney building is now. And then right across from Dad's store there was a garage. That's where Woolworths is now. They repaired and sold cars. The name of the garage was Telluride Motor.

GRIGGS: You talked about the activities that you had at Easter. Can you think of any other activities in Provo that were associated with holidays?

MANTON: Oh yes! On Christmas Eve, right in the middle of Center Street in front of my dad's store there was a great big Christmas tree. Imagine having a tree there now. We'd all gather, and Santa Claus would come and hand out bags of candy. That's one thing that really stands out in my mind.

GRIGGS: Tell me about your home and your family life.

MANTON: Dad was a father that, although he wasn't religious and he didn't go to church, he spent a lot of time raising money to build the old Bonneville Ward. That's been torn down now. It used to be where Allen's is now. I went there. We would travel quite a bit. Every summer Dad would pack his little open car, and we would take trips. They stand out very much in my mind. It would take us three days to get to Bryce Canyon. Our first stop was Cove Fort. Dad was the type of guy that just put his whole heart and soul into camping. He would pitch a tent. He would build a fire at 9 o'clock at night and fry steaks. Of course, he was a butcher.

We had a happy family. Dad would read to us a lot. I remember Mother was a good cook. It seems like she spent a lot of time cooking on the coal stove and working in our home. There was an awful lot of work to do. I remember Mother working in the washroom, using one of those ringers that you had to turn by hand.

GRIGGS: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

MANTON: I had six. Lloyd was the oldest, then Maude, and then Murren and Genevieve, then myself and then I had another sister whose name was Dorothy.

GRIGGS: And what was your maiden name?

MANTON: Sutton.

GRIGGS: I'm sure that you had to help with the household chores in your family. What kind of jobs would you and your brothers and sisters do?

MANTON: Oh! My job was dusting. I remember Mother would never let us go outdoors until all our work was done. I remember a lot about when I went to the Maeser School.

GRIGGS: Tell me about that.

MANTON: There was a group of us that we had so much fun. Every time anyone had a birthday, we'd have a party. I remember we used to go over to the Berg home. Max Berg used to live on 300 South and 500 East.

GRIGGS: I interviewed him this morning.

MANTON: You did? We'd go into their backyard. They had these hearses and we'd climb around on them and play. Then lots of times we would build a great big bonfire in their backyard and we'd roast potatoes. In the winter, we'd take our sleighs and slide up and down 300 South when it was icy. No cars. No traffic at all. I just really enjoyed my friends from the Maeser School. We did have a lot of fun.

GRIGGS: What kind of things did you do at school?

MANTON: Oh, we had our parties and then the Maypole. Every spring they had a Maypole dance. I remember we'd have May Dday and all the schools: Maeser, Franklin, Parker and Timpanogos, would dance and use the colors of their schools. I think they had the second, third, and fourth grade as the Pole dancers. Then we'd vote for a May queen and she would stand by the Maypole. We'd all gather on Center Street. It seems to me like it was in front of where the old County Building is now. We'd dance the Maypole for May Day which was just before school let out. That was a lot of fun too.

GRIGGS: Which ward did you go to?

MANTON: The Bonneville. The church building used to be where Allen's Market is now—the old Bonneville Ward. I remember my dad helping to put on big banquets to raise money to build the church. Although Dad didn't go to church, he helped put on these banquets with Mrs. MacArthur who lived on Center Street. In fact her grandson is a doctor here in Provo. She was Relief Society president at the time. I remember them getting together and planning these great big meals. Dad served roast beef, brown gravy, mashed potatoes and all the trimmings. The money raised helped with the building of the Bonneville Ward building. I remember the dances they had at the church, and they also had carnivals to raise money.

At one time, they needed someone to dig the basement when they first started to build. Dad knew of two men in the Bonneville Ward who had a team of horses and the equipment needed for digging the basement out. In those days, they charged their grocery bill and paid by the month. He told these men that if they would dig the basement out, he would cancel their grocery bills.

GRIGGS: How about the children's participation in church meetings? I think it's changed.

MANTON: It has. I went to Primary off and on, but we didn't seem to participate as much as they do now.

GRIGGS: What are some of the notable locations and businesses in Provo that you remember?

MANTON: I can't seem to recall any. I remember the Woolen Mills

GRIGGS: What do you remember about the Woolen Mills?

MANTON: My father-in-law worked there for a while when they first came from England.

GRIGGS: Tell me about going to school at Maeser School—what it was like?

MANTON: Well, I'll tell you one thing that we did that they certainly don't do now. We would all march in and march out for recess. We'd form lines by grades: 6th grade, 5th grade, etc. And we'd all march in while someone was playing the piano. We'd form lines and march down the hall instead of running wild, you know, to get out and get in. We would march.

GRIGGS: That's interesting. What kind of activities did you participate in during recess?

MANTON: We'd play hopscotch and jump the rope or we'd play ball. My girlfriend and I would take our paper dolls and our little dolls and sew for them during recess. You'd see a lot of that then but you don't see it very much now. The boys would chase us with some willow whips and we'd scream. I don't know whether Maeser School still has this or not, but we had Maeser Day, and that was in November. It was homecoming day to celebrate when Maeser School was first founded. Every grade would put on a program. One time I was a little Japanese girl and I did a Japanese dance. Each class put on some kind of act or a program.

GRIGGS: Did you perform in one big assembly or did you do it in class?

MANTON: We did it one big assembly. Our parents would come and watch us. It was an evening performance.

GRIGGS: Do you remember any of the instructors that you had in elementary school?

MANTON: Yes. I remember Mr. Bjerregaard was our principal and he was my sixth grade teacher. Then there was Gertrude Page. She was an old-timer. She belonged to my mother's club.

GRIGGS: What club was that?

MANTON: The Tres Joli. That was a popular club at that time.

GRIGGS: What kind of club was that?

MANTON: It was a ladies' club. I remember mother having it. There were about twenty at first. They used to take their babies in their baby buggies. It started when they first got married. It lasted until the last one died. In fact, mother was 83 when she died, and she went to her club meetings until shortly before she died. It lasted all their lives. Of course, they would die off, and they would get new members, but their original members stayed all those years.

GRIGGS: What kind of activities did they have?

MANTON: At first, they'd take their sewing because that was the main thing. Everybody would embroider or crochet or knit or something. Eventually they played cards.

GRIGGS: Going back to the Maeser School, you mentioned Mrs. Page. Where there any other instructors that you remember?

MANTON: There was a Mrs. Paxton and she was a very nice teacher. I think her name was Sarah but I'm not sure. She taught us a half a day in the sixth grade and Bjerregaard taught us the other half. Then I remember a Miss Farrer. Her father was quite prominent here in Provo. There was a Farrer Shoe and Dry Goods store. I think her father had something to do with the Farrer Junior High School. There was Miss Buckley. She married a doctor, Dr. Albert Taylor. He was quite a prominent doctor in Provo. I think they eventually moved away. My fourth grade teacher was named Jensen. My fifth grade teacher, we loved him!! His name was a Mr. Felstead. He was the first male teacher we had. After school on the last day of school, he was sitting at his desk, and about four or five girls and I all lined up and kissed him goodbye. His face was as red as a beet. We thought a lot of him. He was one of my favorite teachers.

GRIGGS: Where did you go to junior high school?

MANTON: The Central Junior High, right behind the old Provo High.

GRIGGS: What was it like to go to school there?

MANTON: We changed our classes. I think it's a little different though. We had a home room and we all stayed together during the whole day. I don't think they do that now. It didn't seem like my daughter did. But we had our homerooms when we were in junior high. We'd change rooms and go to each course together.

GRIGGS: Were there some prominent teachers who were really memorable for you there?

MANTON: There was a Mr. Nielson. He used to be the principal in the school, I'm not sure. I quite liked him. Then there was Mr. Poulsen.

GRIGGS: What did he teach?

MANTON: I can't remember. There was a Mr. Biddolf he was my high school biology teacher.

GRIGGS: What kind of activities did you have in junior high school?

MANTON: Dances, and we had swimming. Provo High had a swimming pool and we'd take swimming. We had swimming parties. Of course, then we had our own get-togethers. But in the school we usually had our programs and plays.

GRIGGS: What about the high school? It was similar to the junior high?

MANTON: Yes. But, of course we took the classes that we wanted.

GRIGGS: What were some of your favorite subjects?

MANTON: Probably dancing. I had a hard time in geometry and algebra, I know that. Mr. Moffit, who used to be the superintendent of the schools, taught psychology. I kind of liked that class. I quite liked history, but I don't know who my history teacher was. I think it was Mr. Slack.

GRIGGS: Did you participate in any sporting activities?

MANTON: No. I was in the opera and in glee club. And I was in different programs, but I didn't participate in any of the sports.

GRIGGS: What kind of musical activities did they have?

MANTON: We had the opera and our dancing class put on a dancing program.

GRIGGS: Did they have a band?

MANTON: Provo High Band? Oh, you bet. I didn't participate in that though.

GRIGGS: How many programs would the opera company give during a year?

MANTON: Just one. It was the glee club. We'd put on an opera.

GRIGGS: Can you remember any of the operas that were performed?

MANTON: I can't remember the names of them. I guess if I got down really deep in my scrapbook I could because I kept note of everything.

GRIGGS: How about clubs? Did you have any clubs other than the glee club?

MANTON: Yes. They had a home economics club, then the girls' club and the pep club.

GRIGGS: What did a girls' club do?

MANTON: I didn't participate in that but they probably helped with Girls' Day.

GRIGGS: What was Girls' Day?

MANTON: Well, it was a program and maybe a dance.

GRIGGS: Did you continue your education in Provo? Did you go to BYU?

MANTON: I graduated from high school and I went to BYU for about three months. It was during the depression and I got a job at the telephone company so that ended my formal education.

GRIGGS: You were lucky to get the job, weren't you?

MANTON: Yes. A job was very important at that time.

GRIGGS: Since you were here during the Depression, could you tell me about the changes that were evident in Provo during the Depression. How the Depression affected you and your family?

MANTON: Well, that's when my dad's store went bankrupt. People failed to pay their bills and the store closed because he had no money to meet his bills. But it seems like we never wanted for food or anything. Dad always seemed to be able to manage.

A lot of people in Provo will be acquainted with my dad's mincemeat—Sutton's mincemeat. It was delicious. It was an old English recipe. He made several tons of it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. He was a pretty good cook. He would make soup and take it over to the Maeser School and sell soup for five cents a bowl for lunch. That was really when the school lunches began. My mother was a very good cook and she would bake the pies.

GRIGGS: Did the store open again after the Depression?

MANTON: No. Dad tried to open it at one time, but it didn't make a success. The chain stores started coming in and had lower prices. People wouldn't pay their bills. Of course, after twenty years in business, it was kind of disappointing.

GRIGGS: What did he do after that?

MANTON: He cooked for the schools. That's really what we lived on for a while. He would make mincemeat and we'd get the money from the mincemeat. I often wondered how he paid his bills but the money came in from someplace. One time he was wondering how in the world he was going to pay his insurance. I think the bill was about forty dollars for insurance. He thought for sure he was going to lose it. And here came some money, forty dollars, through the mail. It was from a lady in California. She was going through her husband's accounts after he died and found out that they owed my dad forty dollars. She didn't have to pay it. Dad didn't even know the lady. And it came just before his insurance was due and it paid the full amount. We thought that was a godsend.

GRIGGS: Would you tell me your dad's name and the history of his store?

MANTON: Dad's name was David D. Sutton, David Davis Sutton. He went mostly by D. D. Sutton. He got his experience cutting meat as a butcher in Park City with his Brother, William Sutton, who was once the State Treasurer. They had a market and a café at Park City. Then Dad broke away from them after he was married, and came here in 1908. He started up a store for himself. It was a grocery store and meat market. Dad owned the Sutton slaughterhouse out by Ironton. It was a big slaughter house and they'd slaughter all the meat. He associated with a lot of prominent people here in Provo, being in the grocery/butcher business.

At that time the grocery store had a delivery service. Dad had a whole list of people to call, and they gave their orders. Then they'd deliver groceries to their homes.

GRIGGS: How nice!

MANTON: Dad was a very, very generous man and honest. It's not just because he's my dad. He was honest. He wouldn't cheat anybody. On Christmas Eve, he would take what was left in the store: turkey, chicken, goose or anything, and he would fill boxes. Then he would deliver the boxes to all the widows he knew in town who couldn't afford their groceries.

GRIGGS: Did your mother participate in the business?

MANTON: No. She never had anything to do with the business. She stayed home like mothers were supposed to do, and took care of her kids. I remember everything we wore was sewn on her sewing machine. She was a good seamstress and designer. She made us some really cute dresses. She was very good to her sister who was having a bad time. She used to help sew for that family and made her kids their clothes. Mother was a good cook. She belonged to this Tres Joli Club. She worked in the Relief Society, although Dad didn't go to church. But before he died, he was baptized, a year before he died. We've had Mother and Dad's work done.

GRIGGS: So he actually wasn't a member but he participated.

MANTON: His father came across the plains with the pioneers, but he was very strict and turned the whole family against the church. My dad married a Mormon and so did Uncle Dick, the one that had Sutton's Café. Dad was about as a good a Mormon as you can get. What I mean is he donated, he gave, he was honest, he made us go to church. He was afraid they were going to ask him to pray. I think that's why he didn't go to church.

GRIGGS: Can you remember any of the restaurants in Provo?

MANTON: The Sutton Café was owned by my Uncle Dick. You should contact his grandchildren for information about that. There was the old Elliot Café.

GRIGGS: Where was that?

MANTON: That was around on University Avenue. I can't remember just how long that was there. There weren't a lot of restaurants. It was a luxury to go to a café in those days.

GRIGGS: I'm sure it was.

MANTON: I was just talking to my friend. You were coming and I mentioned it. She said, "Oh! the Sutton Café. We used to come down from Salt Lake to go to the Sutton Café." Of course, it stayed open a lot longer than Dad's store did because Dad went broke.

GRIGGS: I know Max Berg said that the Sutton Café was famous in the whole western part of the United States and people would come from all over.

MANTON: Did he tell you that his mortuary was right by the telephone company? I worked in the telephone company and my sister used to work all night long as a telephone operator. Their doors would open up at night to get fresh air. The telephone company was upstairs and my sister would hear them bringing the bodies into the Berg Mortuary.

GRIGGS: Oh dear! What other kind of jobs did you have?

MANTON: I worked in my dad's store. I clerked. Then I worked up in the office. Then I started working at the telephone company. I started out with $12.50 a week and I thought I was in the money.

GRIGGS: That was good money then. What about some of the events in Provo, particularly the Fourth of July celebrations and Twenty-Fourth of July. What do you remember about those?

MANTON: The Twenty-Fourth was quiet. But we did celebrate the Fourth a lot. If we didn't have a parade, we would go on picnics. Sometimes we'd go out to the old Geneva Resort.

GRIGGS: Tell me about the Geneva Resort.

MANTON: I think if you go out there today, you can still see some trees where the resort was right on the lake. They had a dance hall and a restaurant. People would go there to picnic. During the summer when I was just growing up, they had Clerks' Day. Everybody that worked in the stores would have a day off in the summer and we'd all go to Geneva and have a great big celebration. We would take our picnics and dance. They had a swimming pool beside the lake. 

GRIGGS: Were there other resorts that you remember?

MANTON: There was Castella. That was in Spanish Fork Canyon. There was Vivian Park up the Provo Canyon. They had a great big dance hall and a great big restaurant at one time.

GRIGGS: Where was that located? I know where Vivian Park is now on the Provo Canyon road.

MANTON: It was right there in the same place. You wouldn't think it was there. My dad had a store up there for about three years which was located just over the bridge. He'd have the handy items, and then, of course, candy and pop. He would have things that people would run out of. He ran that store during the summer. Right across the road in front of the pond was the restaurant and right in back of that was the dance hall. People would come every Saturday night. It was just a lot of fun. There were cabins there also. Upper Falls had a big restaurant and cabins. Provo Canyon had cabins you could rent and go up and stay for a week or more. We also lived in Springdale for two years in the summer.

GRIGGS: Where was Springdale?

MANTON: Springdale is right across from Canyon Glen and the homes that are there now are year round. But at the time we used to go up, and they had just summer homes. Magnums had a beautiful home there and so did the Knights. We would play with their children. A lot of the original homes are there. I was about six years old. That was such a long time ago.

GRIGGS: What about theaters in Provo?

MANTON: Well, there was the old Columbia, which is the Paramount now. Then there was the Princess. They're trying to remodel it now. The kids used to called that the Palace of Broken Seats. My cousin, Raymond Sutton, had a theater. It was the Strand Theater. It was located where Mary Kawakami's Beauty School is now. Maybe you can interview Raymond Sutton's two daughters, Helen and Virginia Sutton. They could tell you a lot. Their grandfather was my dad's brother. They lived there on 100 North.

GRIGGS: Is their last name Sutton still?

MANTON: Yes. They never married. They live there together. In fact, you know where the Provo Bakery is now? My grandfather Sutton built that great big two-story house that is kitty-corner from the bakery. That was almost a Sutton block where all the Suttons lived and the twins live on that block now.

GRIGGS: So he was the one that owned the Strand Theater?

MANTON: Yes, their father.

GRIGGS: What did it look like inside? I've been in Mary Kawakami's but...

MANTON: It had wooden seats and the big screen. When I went the movies were silent and they had the piano playing. They had Saturday night shows where you could win chocolates. I'll never forget when my brother got up and sang "Marjorie" and he got a box of chocolates for singing. The old Columbia Theater used to have vaudevilles on their stage.

GRIGGS: In addition to movies?

MANTON: Yes. On certain nights they'd have a vaudeville. You know how these old-timers would dance with their canes and have their silly jokes.

GRIGGS: Were they travelling companies that would come to Provo?

MANTON: Yes, vaudeville groups. I guess you'd read about them and see them while they were in town. They traveled from city to city.

GRIGGS: That's interesting. Were there sports activities that you attended in Provo that were city-wide?

MANTON: Every Wednesday afternoon, every store in Provo would close for the baseball game.

GRIGGS: Where was that held?

MANTON: In the new stand that my dad helped to build.

GRIGGS: Would you tell me about him building that baseball stand? When was that done?

MANTON: Well, he instigated it. I can't remember exactly when it was built, but it must have been when I was about ten years old, in the 1920's, or just before. Anyway, he and a group of other businessmen got together and built the baseball stand. It is still there. Of course, it's been modernized and redone. Every Wednesday afternoon things would close down and everybody would go to the baseball park. It was a big thing in Provo.

GRIGGS: Did the Provo teams play well? Or did it make any difference? (Laughter)

MANTON: I can't remember. It didn't make any difference. I remember some of the men that played. I remember Charlie Elliott used to play. Have you interviewed any of the Elliotts?

GRIGGS: No.

MANTON: They're old-timers in Provo. You ought to interview some of them.

GRIGGS: Could you recommend somebody to talk to?

MANTON: Well, there's Maxine. I'll have to get her name for you.

GRIGGS: Okay. I'd love to get that from you.

MANTON: Their family and our family were close. One of the Elliotts worked for my dad, Ralph Elliot. He was the bookkeeper.

GRIGGS: I noticed that one of your clippings says that your father was an inspector and that he ran for a city office.

MANTON: He was. He was the meat inspector and he ran for city commissioner. He lost out in the primaries by forty votes. He finally got a job as Provo Meat Inspector, then he was put in as County Meat Inspector. He didn't retire until he was eighty years old.

GRIGGS: So he was doing that for a long time all over the county?

MANTON: Yes. He inspected meat. He was also the president of the Commercial Club at one time, which is now called the Provo Chamber of Commerce and he was president of the Provo Rotary Club. Then, when old the Ironton Steel plant first was built, he was the one that put on the barbecue for them.

There was a big article last September in the paper about the barbecue that was held when they broke ground for the Ironton Plant. My dad used to barbecue a lot of beef in great big pits. Then they'd make sandwiches and pass them out to the people

.

GRIGGS: I'll have to talk to you afterwards about the possibility of getting copies of these pictures.

MANTON: That's fine. I'm quite the girl to gather things up. I even saved this. This is the ballot that we voted for A. O. Smoot. Dad was also good friend with Mark Anderson who had the Roberts Hotel.

What do you remember about the Roberts Hotel?

MANTON: I remember going there for dinners and activities. The Rotary Club or one of the other clubs had a daughter and father activity. Dad took me and it was at the Hotel Roberts.

GRIGGS: Did they have good food there?

MANTON: Yes. It was one of the high class hotels in Provo.

GRIGGS: What about the parks and playgrounds. Did you ever go to those or know anything about them?

MANTON: We used to go down to Pioneer Park near Albertson's for band concerts. I remember my first date with my husband was to one of the band concerts down there. Once in a while we'd go to the North Park there the ball park is. Then we used to have a park right here, Harmon's Park, where they play ball now. This neighborhood where I live now used to be fruit trees. I remember them building the houses around here when I was in about the fifth or sixth grade. Beyond where the church is now, there was nothing but trees and fruit trees. Oh, it's changed so much. The Bonneville Ward used to reach from Center Street as far as you could go and almost to Springville. Now there are ten or twelve wards or more in the original area of the old Bonneville Ward. We used to have more fun at the Bonneville ward. We'd have a dance every Friday night.

GRIGGS: Did they charge admission? Could anybody attend?

MANTON: It seems like there was somebody at the door. Maybe there was a small admission fee.

GRIGGS: Did you attend those dances?

MANTON: Oh yes. I wouldn't miss them.

GRIGGS: There was also a dance hall in Provo, wasn't there?

MANTON: Yes, the Utahna. It was a dance hall located where the post office is now. It was called Utahna when it was closed up but it had some other names. I can't remember what the other names were. Maybe somebody else could furnish you with them. I'm sure they would.

GRIGGS: Did you ever attend functions there?

MANTON: Yes. I went there when my dad would let me. He was very strict. He wouldn't even let us go out of the ward to go to a dance. I went when I was dating but I mostly went to the school dances and the ward dances. I didn't go to public dances until I was older. The Utahna had an orchestra.

GRIGGS: Did you have dance cards or did everybody just dance with everybody?

MANTON: I've got one card that was filled out. It was a public dance hall. We did have cards. I remember I've got one in my keepsakes.

GRIGGS: Even though you didn't attend BYU for very long, did you attend any of the activities or performances at BYU?

MANTON: No. There were only about 900 students then. Oh I'd go to football games. I went one Thanksgiving—it snowed on us.

GRIGGS: That's not too unusual, is it?

MANTON: Of course, I've been a fan ever since. But there were only about 900 students when I was going. It was during the Depression.

GRIGGS: At the Academy Square.

MANTON: Yes. It was there. There were just three buildings on the hill when I went. I think it was the library and the science building. Then of course, the old Maeser Memorial has been there as long as I know.

GRIGGS: That was up there way before the other two buildings.

MANTON: Oh yes. That's where I used to roll my Easter eggs down the hill. That's been there for years.

GRIGGS: Well, this has really been interesting. And I look forward to getting some clippings and pictures that we can copy. Thank you so much!

Interviewee: Lois Manton
Interviewer: Karen Griggs
August 1, 1988
794 East 150 South, Provo Utah

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