Item Detail
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Haynes, Myrtle Isabella Rathjen
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1923-
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MSS SC 1008
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Autobiography, Photographs, Letters
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Myrtle Isabella Rathjen Haynes was born June 14, 1923 in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia to John Francis David Rathjen and Myrtle Connor Rathjen. Her father was a railroad worker, and the family 'moved to several small towns, sometimes living in tents, particularly where a new railway was being built.' Myrtle did well in school and skipped two grades. She received a scholarship to attend Rockhampton State High School for two years without payment of fees. She attended high school during 1935 and 1936 and boarded with an aunt, returning home only for holidays. She was only thirteen when she finished those two years of high school, but she was hired at a commission agent's office where she did office work and made preparations for the local agricultural exhibition. After working there three years, Myrtle became a private teacher for two children eighty miles from Clermont on a cattle property in central Queensland. In 1942 she came home and worked at a bank as a ledger keeper. Through her sisters, Myrtle started writing to Edward Haynes, a soldier in New Guinea, in 1943. He visited her once when he was on leave, and they were engaged in February and married in August of 1945. They moved to Ipswich so that Edward could attend a course in carpentry, and lived quietly there. On September 27, 1950 L.D.S. missionaries came to their door and began to teach them the gospel. A year later they were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Edward and Myrtle were active in the church and held many callings. In 1957, they moved their family to Brisbane where Edward had been called to carry out a building mission. At a Thanksgiving Service in one of the new chapels that Edward had helped to build, Myrtle had the following experience: 'I had the strong feeling that if I could see through the floating (suspended) ceiling, I would be able to see angels there.' In 1962 they traveled with their six children to the New Zealand Temple where their family was sealed together. After this trip, they moved to Belmont where their last child was born. Myrtle said of her conversion to the church, 'All throughout my life I have been interested in religion, and my mother encouraged me and my sisters; and I feel I was prepared to accept the Gospel.'
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This collection was submitted by Myrtle for the Women's History Archives at Brigham Young University. Included are several photographs, which Myrtle labeled on the back side: they show Myrtle and Edward on their wedding day, Myrtle and Edward in 1976, Elder Marion Romney and Sister Romney on a visit to Australia, and President David O. McKay on a visit to Australia. Two letters in the collection relate to genealogy; Myrtle inquired in the newspaper about a location where her grandmother had visited, and two people responded with information. Another letter is from the missionary who baptized Myrtle and was written as he was leaving Australia. There is a newspaper clipping, 'Collide Valley Railway and the Rathjen Story,' about Myrtle's father and his work on the railway. And Myrtle included a map of Australia that she drew in 1936 for a class assignment. There are two documents in the collection written by Myrtle. A two-page, typewritten autobiography gives a chronological outline of her life, focusing on her conversion and subsequent activity in the church. The other document is handwritten in pen and is five pages long. Entitled 'Reflections and Recollections,' it is more anecdotal in nature. Myrtle tells stories about her wallaby and opossum pets, her favorite doll, her mother's kindness as station mistress, and her interest in finding her relatives. One incident that Myrtle focuses on is an interview with Thomas S. Monson when her husband was called to be a Stake Patriarch. Myrtle became responsible to invite people into their home and type up the patriarchal blessings, and she felt that this was a fulfillment of part of her patriarchal blessing. Because Edward was a patriarch, Myrtle and Edward were able to attend General Conference once. While they were in Salt Lake City, they met with the missionaries who had baptized them 24 years earlier. WWII.
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1810-1890