Item Detail
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Cox, Zina Kunz Hatch Fuit
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1900-1995
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MSS SC 2996
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Autobiography
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Zina Kunz was born on March 31, 1900 in Bern, Idaho to Carolina Buehler and Christian Kunz. When she was in her early teens she and her mother went to live in Salt Lake City, Utah for a year. She then returned to Bern to attend high school at Fielding Academy. After graduating from high school she applied for a teaching position in Bern and got it. She taught for a year then moved to Logan, Utah to attend Utah State College to train to be a secretary. Upon receiving her secretary degree she moved to Montpelier, Idaho to work as a secretary there. A few years later she served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Eastern States Mission. After her mission she returned to Logan and attended Utah State College to earn a degree in teaching. She found a teaching position in Vernon, Idaho and there she met Lenord Lamoin Hatch with whom she got engaged. In 1829 she moved back to Logan to live with her parents and teach for a time. She and Lenord were married on May 26, 1932 in the Logan Temple. She had two children with him. On June 11, 1937 Lenord was struck by lightening and killed. She and her two little children moved back to Logan and then on to Ogden, Utah. There in Ogden she met John Fuit whom she married on August 23, 1943 and they moved to Clinton, Utah. She had one son with John. In September 1970 John died of a heart attack. Zina went to Auckland, New Zealand to live with her oldest son at this time but she returned to Ogden in May 1973. Soon after returning she met Orville S. Cox through her daughter and married him on January 4, 1975 then moved to his home in Shelley, Idaho. She died July 6, 1995.
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This is a 204-page, typewritten autobiography of Zina Kunz Hatch Fuit Cox. It is bound and entitled The Hills of Bern. It was written in the early 1970's and completed around 1976. The first two pages have pictures of Zina at the time of writing, of her family when she was younger, of her mother and their house in Bern, of her father with all of his sons, and a picture of her mother with all of her daughters. Then the history is divided into 15 chapters. Each chapter has a title, beginning with pages 1-8 called 'Births.' This chapter gives a brief history of her parents and the births of all of her siblings and some of the major events in their early lives. Carolina, her mother, was Christian Kunz's second wife in polygamy. His first wife was her sister, Elizabeth. Zina talks about the challenge of polygamy for her mother, especially with her older more outspoken sister as the first wife. Zina was her mother's youngest child and was a great comfort to her mother. The next chapter is entitled 'Pre-School' as Zina was the youngest child and was the only one at home during the day. This is followed by 'School at Last' wherein she finally is old enough to attend the public school. She tells of completing the first grade and mastering the first reader frontward and backward. She also tells of her baptism in 1908. Also around this time her older brother David contracted Poliomyelitis, but was able to overcome great odds and attend Harvard Law School. The next chapter, 'Growth Continues,' tells of herding the cows on their farm and, due to the free time that this allowed, the love for reading that she developed. She also tells of riding on the railroad from Ovid, Idaho to Paris, Idaho on the MontpelierParis Railroad's first run. Her family found the head and front leg bones of a mammoth on their property while digging a garden. James E. Talmage came to pack them up and examine for display in the Church Museum. In chapter 5, 'The Tolerable Teens,' she talks of how upon graduating from grammar school she could not attend Fielding Academy right away. This was because there were already six kids from her family attending and her parents could not afford it at that time. Instead she and her mother took an extended trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to stay with her two older sisters who were nurses at a hospital there. They stayed for most of the year but returned to Bern and she attended Fielding Academy the following year. She also talks about World War I and the change that brought about. Chapter 6, 'World War I Ends,' is filled mostly with experiences of teaching. Soon after she started teaching her mother and father moved to Logan, Utah. She finished the year then moved to Logan as well, to train as a secretary. She then moved to Montpelier, Idaho to live with her brother David and work in his law office as a secretary. In chapter 7, 'These Tantalizing Twenties,' she talks mostly about her experiences as a secretary for her brother David and of David's young children. Chapter 8, 'A Mission in the Twenties,' is filled with descriptions of getting her call to the Eastern States Mission, serving there the people she met and the companions she served with. Toward the end of her mission she got appendicitis, but she was able to finish her mission and return home to have an operation to remove her appendix. In chapter 9, 'The Twenties End Tragically,' she tells of the death of her brother David. She and about returning home from her mission and working in a candy shop in Logan before attending Utah State College to obtain her teaching degree. Upon receiving her degree she got a job teaching in Vernon, Idaho where she met Lenord Hatch. In chapter 10, 'Fulfillment,' she continues her story of Lenord Hatch, whom she married on May 26, 1932 in the Logan Temple. Chapter 11 'Celestial Marriage,' describes the occasion and the experience of living with Lenord's parents for a few years before building a home of their own. They had two children a boy and girl. Five years into their marriage, Lenord was struck by lightening. He died on June 11, 1937. The next chapter, 'Gathering the Pieces,' tells of her recovering from this loss and the steps she took to make things all right for her small family. She returned to Utah State College in Logan to get her teaching degree. She found a teaching position in Ogden, Utah. This leads into chapter 13, 'Back to Teaching School,' where she describes teaching elementary school. Chapter 14, '27 Years with John Fuit,' talks about meeting John Fuit, a recent widower with five children, and marrying him on August 23, 1943. They moved to Clinton, Utah and had a boy together. She then tells of all the experiences she had while married to John, such as both of their sons' missions; traveling to Europe and visiting such places as Rome, Switzerland, Germany, and France; and their son Johnny serving in the Vietnam War. After 27 years of marriage, John died of a heart attack after a long string of health problems. After his death, Zina decided to move to New Zealand to live with her eldest son. In chapter 15, 'Off to New Zealand,' she tells of this extended trip. She lived with her son and his wife for the first two years until eventually getting a place of her own. While there she served as an ordinance worker in the New Zealand Temple. She also took advantage the opportunity to visit Australia and Tonga. In May 1973 she returned to Ogden where she served in the Ogden Temple for two years. In late 1974 Zina's daughter arranged a meeting Orville Cox, whom Zina married on January 4, 1975. She moved to Orville's home in Shelley, Idaho. She then tells of experiences of traveling with Orville to places such as the Holy Land and London. They also traveled to Palmyra, New York to watch the Temple pageant there, then on to Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Alaska. While living in Shelley she wrote a weekly column called 'The Other Day in Shelley.' It featured personal stories of people around town. The end of the autobiography indicates that Zina started it around 1970 and completed it in time for the Christian Kunz Family Reunion in 1976.
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