Item Detail
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Clark, Sadie Ollerton
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1901-1992
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MSS SC 1714
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Autobiography
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Sadie Ollerton Clark was born on January 20, 1901 in Parowan, Utah as the eighth and youngest child of James Ollerton and Mary Emma Adams. As a premature baby, Sadie had the measles and pneumonia before age one. As a child, Sadie worked on her family's ranch driving the cows to their pasture. In the eighth grade, Sadie went to the training school at Brigham Young University. In 1916 Sadie and her family moved to Arizona. In the fall of 1919 Sadie began college where she met Leigh William Clark who was soon called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England. Sadie continued her schooling and studied to be a teacher even though she did not enjoy it very much. When Leigh returned from his mission, he and Sadie were married in the Salt Lake City Temple on June 5, 1924'the same week that Sadie graduated from college. They settled in Mesa where Sadie gave birth to a son, Norman, in May of 1925 and then to Reid in April of 1928. When Leigh took a job with the Standard Oil Company of California, he and Sadie moved to Phoenix and then to Albuquerque, New Mexico where Sadie bore her third son, David, on June 15, 1931. In 1934 they moved to El Paso, Texas where Sadie was very involved with the church as a member of her ward's Relief Society presidency. In 1942 they moved to Houston where she became a substitute teacher. She eventually became a certified teacher in Texas after enrolling in courses at the University of Houston. After the organization of the South Texas Stake, Sadie was called to serve as Stake Relief Society President, while her husband served as Stake Patriarch. For more than 25 years, Sadie transcribed patriarchal blessings for her husband. In 1956 Sadie began a seven year teaching career at the St. Thomas Episcopal School. Her teaching income helped two of her sons complete graduate work so that both Norman and David eventually earned doctorate degrees. When Leigh retired because of deteriorating health in 1963, he and Sadie moved to Provo where Sadie enrolled in a genealogy course at Brigham Young University. In 1966 Sadie took a class on Irish research in an effort to learn more about genealogy, and then in 1967 she took a trip to New England to research her husband's noble line. In the fall of 1968 Sadie and Leigh were asked to work as tour guides in the old homes in Nauvoo, so they left Provo in March of 1969 and worked in Nauvoo until July 1970. When the Provo Temple opened in 1972, Leigh served as a supervisor of the Recommend Desk while Sadie served as receptionist two days a week for two and a half years. Sadie enjoyed traveling throughout her life and traveled to places such as Switzerland, Italy, and Germany as well as numerous states throughout the United States. Sadie died on September 26, 1992.
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This collection contains a 16 page typewritten autobiography written by Sadie Ollerton Clark entitled 'My Life.' On the first page is a pasted picture of a young woman, presumably Sadie. Within her autobiography, Sadie describes her childhood and writes extensively about her siblings' lives. Sadie also writes about her teaching career, her travels, her and her husband's illnesses, and her experiences as a mother as well as significant events in the lives of her three children. Sadie closes her autobiography by stating, 'So, in the beginning of 1980 we are quite well, as are all our family. They have their problems but are well and happy. We hope we can keep on this pattern, praying that no debilitating illness will strike us and that we can carry on to the end.'
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1859-1947