Item Detail
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Guy, Lilian Joan Lockhart
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1925-
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MSS SC 1007
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Autobiography
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Lilian Joan Lockhart Guy was born February 25, 1925 in Lebrina, Tasmania to Lilian Willams Lockhart and Henry James Lockhart. Lilian, who went by Joan, had two sisters and three brothers. Their family moved to Flinders Island, a small farming island off the tip of Tasmania, where Lilian came to love the countryside and the coastline. When she was twelve years old, they moved back to the Tasmania mainland. There, she attended high school until age fifteen, when she was conscripted into a clothing factory that made military clothing for WWII. She was grateful for the two years she spent there because she learned to sew. Lilian worked in a Sanitarium Health Food shop until she married Harvey Lloyd Guy on March 25, 1948. She and Harvey became the parents of six children: five sons and one daughter. They joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a family unit on April 30, 1961. Lilian said of their conversion, 'I am grateful to say that we recognized the truth instantly and were baptized without any reservations.' They moved their family to the Gold Coast, Queensland in 1969 and were active in their religion, taking on various church callings.
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This collection consists of a two-page, typed manuscript by Lilian which she sent to the Women's History Archives at Brigham Young University. The first page is entitled, 'My Testimony of Putting the Lord First.' She explains that after joining the church as a family, 'I found that there seemed to be so much to do, and so many meetings to attend in my new life, and so a decision had to be made right then and prompted by the Holy Ghost.' She decided to give of her time and talents to build up the Lord's Kingdom on the earth, and 'learned very quickly that to serve the Lord first in all things, allowed me the privilege of taking care of my family, and home in a manner that I feel the Lord would have me do.' Lilian gives an account of a trial their family had: two and a half months after joining the church, their five-year-old son was diagnosed with kidney disease. Their family was grateful to learn of the priesthood power, and to see it bless Andrew; he lived to receive a kidney transplant and regain his health. Lilian also reminisces about a particular District Relief Society President that she served under as Secretary/Treasurer. They would travel to quarterly leadership meetings that were 80 and 120 miles away, bringing delicious three-course meals and table decorations with them. Lilian concludes this page with the statement, 'Yes putting the Lord first is surely putting your family first.' The second page of the collection is a one-paragraph autobiography written January 3, 1977. Lilian gives a short history of her life and lists the church callings that she and her husband had held.
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1874-1946