Date of Interview: March 22, 2009 in Hyde Park, Utah
Interviewer: Kylie Nixon
Transcriber: Kylie Nixon
KN: We are here in Hyde Park, Utah in the Nixon home. My name is Kylie Nixon and I am interviewing my grandfather, Jack Nixon.
EJN: My name is Ezra John Nixon Junior and I was born on March 29, 1929. We are here in my home in Hyde Park, Utah where I live with my wife, Charlotte.
KN: Tell me about your parents.
EJN: When I was young, my dad had a job with JC Pennies. In that day, JC Pennies had about 700 stores across the United States. A lot of them were in little towns. So my folks had come from Utah. My dad was born in Huntington, Utah and my mom was born in Moroni, Utah. They met after my dad got home from his mission in the New England States. They met while they were going to school.
KN: What about your grandparents?
EJN: I want to give a little history about their parents and our heritage. My grandfather and my grandmother on my mother’s side were named and Dan and Dorthea Olsen. They were from Denmark. Their ancestors had come to the United States after joining the church. They settled in San Pete County where my grandfather continued in the farming business. He was a sheep man. He was one of the first ones to start Moroni Feed, which is one of the largest turkey growing and processing plants in Moroni. My grandfather was a person I was always kind of afraid of. And yet as I look back he was a kind man. He was a hard worker, very respected in the community. He was not particularly active in the church. My grandmother was. My grandfather always paid tithing but didn’t like to go to church and sit by people who stole his water on Monday morning, so he just preferred to not do that. My grandmother, Dorthea was involved in the church. She raised all her daughters, my mother being 1 of 7 daughters in the church. They were hard workers. They had to thin beats as children. Their only brother was killed in an automobile accident when he was 16 years of age. My grandfather didn’t ever get over losing his only boy, so the girls all had to work just as if they had been boys.
KN: Tell me about your father’s family.
EJN: My father’s family came from Wales and Ireland. My grandfather was actually born in the United States and came East. His family were also hard working, honorable people. The church was always very important to them. There were 4 boys and 3 girls in the family. Willie, the oldest became a doctor in Provo. The next boy was St. Clair and he raised his family in the Los Angeles area. The next was a girl, Olive, then Grace and Nina. There was also J.W. Junior. My father was Ezra and he had a brother younger than him named Jesco. They were raised in Huntington. My grandfather Nixon, who I knew quite well also scared me. They were stern people, but as I look back they were kind people. He used to freight with horses from Huntington to Provo to St. George, often times going on to Santa Barbara, Ca. He would pick up goods that would come in by ship and bring them back and distribute them in Utah. That was the way they made their living. My grandfather also owned a movie theater in Huntington and was a merchant there. He had a store that my grandmother ran while my grandfather was on the road with horses and a wagon. The movie theater caught on fire and burned down. The old Nixon store is still there. In Huntington there is still a Nixon residence and a Nixon corner. After the theater burned down, they moved to Provo. My father told me that on one occasion, he was riding his horse from Huntington to Provo because there was no automobiles to speak of. Horses were the only way that people got from one place to another. My dad was raised in the merchandise business, so it was natural him when he got a job with JC Pennies to feel very comfortable. I was born in 1931, which was right in the midst in the depression. It was very difficult to get a job. My father was making $100 a month. They came to him and told him that if he wanted to keep his job, he was going to have to take a cut in pay. They didn’t care if he did or didn’t because there were 17 more people standing in line for his job. So, he took a cut to $94.50 per month. They paid part of this to him in script, which was nothing more than a note saying that they would pay him the rest of his salary when they could. It was a promise to pay. They finally did and my father was able to collect the additional 20% of his wages. They gave it to him in JC Penny stock. Over time, he acquired about 27 shares of this stock. In 1979, he passed away and passed it on to my mother. When she passed away about four years later, the stock was worth $210,000. That shows you what interest and appreciation of stock over about 60 years if you don’t spend it.
KN: What did your Mom do?
EJN: My mother was fortunate enough to get a teaching certificate so that she could teach school. She didn’t ever teach until the war came along in 1942 when all of the women and many of the young men who were not old enough to go into the service but work in the war plants. Here they would make ammunition and war items to supply to troops overseas. Because a lot of the lady school teachers went to the war plants to make more money, she exercised her teaching certificate for about 4 years and taught second grade. That was the only time she ever worked. In those days, it was not customary for the wife to work out of the home. A very small percentage did that. After the war years, she was able to stay home. She didn’t work because of needing the money. My dad was a manager and made better than average wages, even though it was only about $300 a month at time.
KN: What were their names?
EJN: My father name was Ezra John Nixon. My mother was Larue Olsen Nixon. She had 5 sisters and 1 brother who died. They were poor, but industrious people. In those days, everybody worked 60 hours a week. We had never heard of a 40 hour work week and now people are talking about a 36 hour work week. We had to work 6 days a week and we worked 10 hour days. Sunday was the only day people got off.
KN: Tell me about your relationship with your parents.
EJN: I was very fortunate to have a close relationship with my father and I was with my mother all the time because she was home. I remember one incident in Del Norte, Colorado when I was about four years old. I had been playing with the neighbor boy and came home and my mother said, “Where’s your hat Jackie?” I told her my friend had thrown it up in a tree and I said, “Don’t worry Mom, Heavenly Father will bring it back it back to me.” Another story from Del Norte regards my love for throwing rocks. I had a pretty good arm. When I was four years old, I had a rock that I called, My Baby. It fit perfectly in my hand and I had saved it to throw on a special occasion. One day, a car came by and in those days, cars only went about 6 or 7 miles per hour. I wondered if I could hit the car with My Baby. So I threw it and to my surprise, it knocked the back window out. Was I ever scared. The guy in the car stopped and I ran in the house as fast as I could and crawled under the bed and told my Mom to not let him in. She didn’t know who I was talking about and I can remember hoping that they wouldn’t find me under the bed. Soon enough, there was a knock at the door and a man at the door told my mom what had happened. My mother said to him that my dad would be home in a couple hours and that we would come and talk to him. When my dad got home, I had to tell him what I had done and he said the we would have to pay for it. I had about $6.30 saved in my piggy bank and so I got my money out and we walked six blocks to the man’s house. I can still remember how scared I was but I appreciated having my dad with me because at least I knew he loved me and cared about me and I thought this other man wanted to kill me. As we stood on his porch, he came to the door and my dad said that we were there to make right what his son has done to this man’s car. I remember handing him my $6.30 and I don’t know how much more my dad had to pay. In those days, a dollar was a lot of money. Gas prices were 15 cents a gallon. When you equate that to inflation and analyze an average wager for someone in those days made about $50-75 per month, that means that gas today at $1.75 would be about equal to the increase in wages we had during that time. Money was very hard to get. If we were good and did our chores, my parents would treat us to a nickel ice cream cone when fast Sunday came. That was our compensation for working hard all month long, and that would be a double decker.
KN: What was your favorite flavor?
EJN: Chocolate!
KN: How many did siblings
EJN: I have two sisters. Dorothy Dean who was 4 years younger than me, and Karen who was 14 years younger than me. I had a little brother that died, who was a year younger than me. His little body is buried in Moroni and his name was Daniel Franklin, who my son is named after. He died within the first year of life from yellow jaundice. I had it when I was a baby and survived, but he didn’t.
KN: What was your relationship like with your sisters?
EJN: I was probably not the nicest younger brother that sisters would hope for. We were far apart and I would tease them a lot. They tell me that I teased Dorothy Dean a lot and that I wasn’t an easy child to raise. I liked to get into trouble because I kind of liked to see how I would get myself out of it. I was spanked quite a few times. We moved to Ordway, CO when I was about 4, lived there 8 years and then moved to Roosevelt, UT when I was 12. When I was in school in Ordway, I got spanked quite a bit. In those days, teachers could give you swats. If you weren’t good, they put your name on the board with marks next to it for bad behavior. After four marks, you didn’t even care. After recess, we would go back in the cloak room and the teacher would make me grab my ankles and get a swap for every mark. I also started working with my dad at the store when I was about 8 years old. I would mark merchandise and sweep the floors and took the clinkers out of the furnace. That’s the hardened ashes that came out of coal furnaces. They would take them out every night so that they could cool and have new coals for the next day. The sales girls at the store used to tolerate me rather than really like me. I got really good at throwing pins and had a hard time passing a girl that would be bent over. I would stick it in her back side and she would yelp. They never told my dad because he was their boss, so I got away with a lot.
KN: What do you remember most from your childhood?
EJN: I got my first horse when I was 8 years old. His name was Chief. He was a black and white horse that I just loved. I was really lucky. There were other kids in town that had horses, but none were as pretty as mine. I used to get up in the morning and go to the cattle farm about 2 miles away. I went and fed the cows early in the morning before I went to school. We raised sugar beets as a side business. I worked with my dad on that and one time, the train started about the same time as I was leaving. It would go slower and faster and my horse got scared when the train let the steam off. The train got going faster and thought I was trying to race him so he started waving and yelling at me. I didn’t have a saddle, so the horse got neck & neck with the train and kept going was determined to keep up. It got really scary and I was so mad at my horse because he made me late for school. We also raised cantaloupes. The farmers would ship the cantaloupes on the railroad. They had to ship them while they were still green so that they weren’t overripe by the time they got to the market. They called out all the good ripe melons and put them in a big bin so that the farmers could take them home and feed them to their pigs. I got the idea that I could sell these so I used to get up at the call bin, catch them before they came off the conveyor belt, clean them up, and get rid of the juice, seeds and flies. I would climb up into the call bin, catch them before they broke, clean them up. From there I took my horse and wagon and go up and down the streets with a little bell and sell them 2 for a nickel. I was the richest kid in town because sometimes I would make up to $2.50 a week. I don’t remember any other kids having any money, so that was my first enterprise; selling cantaloupes.
KN: Did you have any hobbies as a child and through high school?
EJN: I had to work. Everyone did and we didn’t have any television. However, we did have a radio and I liked that. I was a cub scout and my mother was a den mother. I became a lion and went into the scouting program. I got to be a life scout. By that time I was about 15. I think I turned into a girl scout at that time because I never got my eagle. I did play sports in high school when we moved to Utah. I was able to make the football and basketball and baseball teams. I was never big enough to really be the star. I was the substitute. I did start my last year as a guard in basketball but I was never really outstanding. I was too small, so I took up boxing. I boxed on the team and became reasonably good. I think I won 18 out of my 23 matches.
KN: What did you do for work in high school?
EJN: I worked for my dad all my life until he died. I started at the store when I was 8 and he was quite an entrepreneur. He always had a side business. As I mentioned, we had cattle and a little 40-acre farm, later a 80-acre farm, and after that a 160-acre farm. I worked on the farm. As I got older, he went into a partnership with Alva Snow and they opened a tire-capping business in Roosevelt. I worked there and we got a several dealerships and I worked in the garage and service station. I got tired of working for my dad one day so I drove a truck when I was about 15 (back then, they didn’t care if you had a license or not). I had to get up really early at about 4:00 a.m. and walk about a mile to Mr. Peterson’s where the truck was parked. I would drive it and meet the freight liner that came from Salt Lake at about 5:00 in the morning. We would load bread onto my truck and be back by 7:00 so that Mr. Peterson could deliver the bread. That only lasted about 6 months. It was hard work and I was missing school sometimes because of the snow. It was a distasteful job but I stuck with it until something better came along. I continued to work after school at the store or at the car shop. I worked until I went away to BYU. I left school when I was a senior in high school. My mother and two sisters and I moved to Provo where I finished high school and BYU High. I was able to go to college simultaneously with high school because I only had 1.5 credits to graduate. I got a jump start on college by going to both at the same time.
KN: So they had a BY High school?
EJN: Yes. I graduated from BY High School.
KN: Did your parents come with you? Where did you live?
EJN: My mother came with me. She rented a little house for my two sisters and myself. We would go home on weekends. I still graduated with my class from Roosevelt but I had a half a year of college done, so I was very fortunate. I had two graduations. My folks were very educationally prone. I was not a very good student. I got good grades but I did not apply myself. I just got by the best I could. I was then able to go on a mission and got called to the Spanish American Mission. I was one of the lucky ones who went to a foreign language mission. It was along the border of Mexico and Texas and New Mexico. We worked with only Spanish speaking people and it was very hard because there was no missionary training. They threw us out on the street with a companion and told us to learn and go talk to the people. My companion didn’t know much more than I did. The most difficult time I ever had in my life was after I had been out on my mission for about 3.5 months. My mission President called me to be a senior companion. I didn’t even know how to tell the Joseph Smith story in Spanish at that time. My companion and I received a brand new missionary who didn’t know much and here I am taking the place of Elder Castleton who was called to be an AP. He was teaching a number of families advanced principles of the gospel like the atonement and the plan of salvation. I had no idea how to even communocate with the people. The only Spanish words I knew were words you couldn’t use on a mission. It was a very humbling experience. I thought a number of times of just getting on a bus a going home because I didn’t see any way I could do it, but I knew that if I did that I would be in even more trouble. So my companion and I devoted ourselves quickly to praying and studying and writing out the questions we wanted to ask and the things we wanted say and then reading them to the families we taught. I prayed harder than I had ever prayed in my life. I prayed that Heavenly Father would bless me so that I could be an effective missionary. He blessed us that we both learned the language very quickly. Within about 3 weeks, I was able to understand and communicate with the people. From that point forward, I gained a good understanding of the language. I received a gift of tongues. The Lord answered my prayers and that my first real manifestation of an answer to a prayer that I experienced and it taught me that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and helps us.
KN: Growing up, were you always planning on going on a mission?
ENJ: It was expected in our family. My parents were active. In Colorado, we were the only Mormons in that part of the state. Later, there were a couple of families that we formed a branch with 25 miles away. We never talked about whether we would or wouldn’t, it was just expected. My Dad was the bishop and he called my friends and I on missions.
KN: How long did you serve?
EJN: Two and a half years to help learn language. When I got home in 1952, I went back to BYU for a couple of quarters and was then drafted into the army. This was during The Korean War. In the meantime, I met my sweetheart, Charlotte. She was a sister in the mission. I had never thought romantically about her. Missionaries don’t do that, but about 6 months after I got home, she came to BYU to a mission reunion. This was the first time I had seen her since the mission field. We really hit it off and I decided that she was probably the girl I wanted to marry.
KN: Where was she from?
EJN: El Paso, TX
KN: Did she go to BYU?
EJN: She had gone to BYU before her mission for about a year or two. I did know who she was. In fact, I dated one of her roommates but didn’t have enough courage to ask her out. When I saw her in the mission field, I remembered her as Gwen’s cute roommate. That didn’t materialize other than friendship, we worked in the same district. We had a lot of contact with each other for probably 4 or 5 months and I was called to serve in the office at about 9 months. At that point, I was in contact with the whole mission so periodically I would talk with her and her companion. We were acquainted, but didn’t know each other really well. I went into the army and decided I wanted to marry her so I drove down to El Paso and asked her to marry me. She didn’t believe me and didn’t know if I was serious or not, so she hesitated before she would take my Delta 5 pin, which was my fraternity pin. I told her that whoever wore that pin would either be his mother or the girl I was going to marry. Clearly she was not my mother and she finally took it and put it on and started making plans to get married. I was off to basic training. I sent her a ring in the mail and didn’t see her until the night before we went to the temple to get married. It was 16 weeks later and I had just gotten out of basic training.
KN: What date did you marry?
EJN: December 18, 1953.
KN: How long had you been home from your mission?
EJN: I had gotten home in June of 1952 and we got married December of 1953.
KN: Where did you go after you got married?
EJN: I was very fortunate because I didn’t get shipped oversees. Nearly everyone got shipped to Korea, except for about 9 of us. I was stationed in San Francisco at Army headquarters. I was able to take Charlotte with me. She worked and made about 3 times as much as me. We developed a lot of wonderful friends. We didn’t have much money so we chased fire engines just to have something to do. We were saving money. I was selling cars; buying them off the street and fixing them up because I had had experience in high school. I would make $300-400 dollars per car. I ran a little taxi service from out of my house. It was a 12 mile route and I charged passengers about $2 a week. They would be waiting on the corner when I would go to work and then I would pick them up and take them home on the way home. I took the officers cars home on my day off and polish them and tune them up for about $5. I also used to cut hair in basic training and did it for 50 cents a head. I saved $400 in basic training doing this. I always had a job doing something. Cutting hair, selling cars, fixing cars. I always had a desire to do those things.
KN: Where did the two of you go after basic training?
EJN: We lived right in SF for the remainder of the two years I was in the service. We stayed another month or two before we went back to school at BYU. I worked at the cannery and I was the only one who spoke English. One lesson I learned there is that people watch you. The man that hired me was a great big guy who always chewed on a cigar. He looked like a big master sargent. One day they posted on the wall that anyone who wanted to earn extra money could by coming in on Sunday to do cleanup. I was always looking for extra money so I signed up. When the next Friday came around, this sargent came up to me and said, “Nixon, ain’t you a Mormon?” I said yes. I have no way of knowing how he knew that I was a Mormon except for the fact that I was from Utah was written on my application. He told me that I should be living my religion. He said, “you ain’t coming in here to do clean up on sunday! You should be in church.” I learned a great lesson and it took someone who wasn’t a member of the church to tell me that I should be at church. From there we went to BYU and were head residents at the girls dorm.
KN: What did you study?
EJN: I had a composite major in Personnel, Bus Manangement, and Marketing. I had a minor in Spanish. That Spanish really helped me because I got 24 credit hours of straight A’s and that helped my grades because they hadn’t been the best before my mission. I immediately started my car business there. We parked the cars out in front of the girls dorm. I used to get on the train to take four or five guys with me about every other week. We went to Omaha. I had a buyer in Weeping Water, Nebraska who would buy cars from me. He only bought cars that were really classy and sharp, ones that college kids would like. I would take toll bars, get in late at night and stay at the YMCA. The man’s name was Lou Noble. He would pick us up and take us to his garage and drive them back to Utah to sell them. I would park them out in front of the dorm and shine them up so that when the boys came to pick up the girl for dates, they would see these really nice looking cars. Often times, I would tell them to take the little “red crown victoria” on their dates. I would lend them to the boys, they loved it, and often times ended up buying. I was selling more cars than the dealers downtown. I wasn’t going to school as much as I should because I would leave on Fridays and not get back in class until Tuesday. But I had a real deal going because I had a girl in the dorm who would write little diddies about Jack’s used cars. She was really clever about it and I would play those on the radio and put them in the Daily Universe. When someone wanted to respond to the ads, they would call but we didn’t have direct phone lines so they had to call via the BYU switchboard. I would have the girls on the switchboard watching for my business calls and when I would get home from school, they would give me the names of the people who responded. In return, I would give them items like silver or linens or plate sets because they were taking my calls. I had a wonderful business. Sometimes I would make up to $1500 per month. The professors were only making $750 so here I am a student making twice as much as my professors. They knew it and kinda liked me so I made them special deals with them because I was missing their classes. One day, I came home and Charlotte told me that President Wilkinson called. he was quite a stern person and most were afraid of him. I was even afraid of him. I knew him and I think he kinda liked me because he knew who I was. I finally got enough courage to call him and he said, “I don’t mind you parking your cars in the BYU parking lot and using it for your sales. I don’t mind you advertising in the Universe, but when you use my operators to take your business calls, you’ve gone too damn far!” I thought we were going to lose our jobs and kick us out of school!
KN: Did you graduate from BYU? Where did you go from there?
EJN: I finished my undergraduate there. Looking back, I think President Wilkinson liked me and respected me after that. When he didn’t kick me out, I used the pay phone downstairs instead. But, we continued there until we graduated in 1957. Then, we moved back to Roosevelt and I worked for my dad for $300 a month; so we took a real pay cut after I graduated.
KN: What eventually brought you here to Logan?
EJN: We ended trading off our machinery and car business with a man for Zanabu. He sold off everything we had: the cars, the trucks, the machinery. He was able to liquidate and get cash for everything. So we came here and ran a 21 unit motel and ran the restaurant.
KN: What kind of restaurant was it?
EJN: It was family style. We served 3 meals a day. We served scones, called “Zanacones.” It was called Zanabu Lodge. We worked there for 3 years, made it successful, and then traded it off for second trust deeds on homes in California, which is a whole other episode. Getting back to what I started, I worked with my dad from the time I was 8 till we got Zanabu. We sold it 3 years later and both got our real estate licenses together. We went into the business as partners together and started Nixon & Nixon. In 1963, we worked for a broker. My dad was a manager and I was an agent. I also worked for the University and student services. Later I worked for the church for about 13 years managing the Mckay student center. This was at Utah State and I managed that with the understanding that I could do my real-estate on the side. I provided for my family with my salary from the church, which was $725 per month. I didn’t ever take a raise the whole time I was there. They offered it to me on occasion, but I didn’t feel right about taking it because I had other things going on the side. I had my assistant take my job at the Mckay center and I went full time real estate with my Dad.
KN: Tell me about your children.
EJN: We’ve had 7 children. Our first two died. A little boy was stillborn when we were army. His name was Race. We also had a little girl, Nadine, and she died shortly after we were born. She only weighed 1 pound 4 ounces. Then, through a special blessing we received from Spencer W. Kimball, who was an apostle at the time. He was also my Dad’s cousin. We were promised that we would have a family. There were a lot of things that happened and they told Charlotte that she would never be able to carry a child again. He gave us a blessing that we would have a family. Since that time, we have had 5 children. Ruelinda is the oldest. Tres, or Ezra John Nixon III, was named after me and his grandfather. We called him Tres because he was the third. Then, came Scott. Then, Daniel. Finally, Shanna who is the youngest. She came 8 years after Daniel.
KN: While you were raising your family, how did you support them?
EJN: The only time I ever worked for anyone was for about 2 years when I worked for Utah State. Then, I took the job with the Church so that they would let me do my own thing on the side. Charlotte would always say, “Why don’t you get a job like everyone else?” She wanted me to be a dentist. I told her I didn’t want to stare down people’s mouths the rest of my day. “Just let me do my thing. I’ll make a good living and take care of you. Just trust me.” We have had a good life. We’ve had hard times, especially when we lost our little babies. We’ve had some hard times financially, especially during the 80’s when interest rates were 21.5%. We had a lot of debt and struggles but the Lord blessed us. He sometimes came and answered prayers and solved very difficult problems for us.
KN: What has been your business philosophy?
EJN: I don’t know that I could condense it into a statement. The fundamental principles that the savior taught are the best fundamental business principles that I know. If you treat the other person like you’d like to be treated, if you’re honest in your dealings, if you always try to give a little bit more than is expected instead of trying to take more for yourself and always try to find a way to give, you will find true happiness. You can never give enough to the point that it will hurt you. It will always benefit you. It is an unwritten law that the more you give, the more you gain. It just happens that way; I can’t tell you how. Keep those fundamental principles working and treat people with respect. Every person I meet is my superior in some way. They may not have as much education or experience as me, but he or she has some trait about them that I could learn from to improve my life. If you look at other people that way, in a way that they are a major importance to you, you will be successful in any aspect in life.
KN: Church callings
EJN: The mission is the greatest, most wonderful experience a young man can have. It changed my life and gave me confidence. As I mentioned before, I was always the little guy in high school and couldn’t be the star I wanted to be. When you get in the mission field, it doesn’t matter. You are all equal, teaching the principles of the gospel and it is just a matter of how well you do that. You can excel at that or be mediocre. Nobody’s going to hold you back because you aren’t 6 feet tall. I used that opportunity to really excel the most I could. I gained so much confidence. Since that time, I’ve served in bishoprics, served as a bishop a couple of times, on the high council and in a stake presidency. I have had a lot of opportunities, probably none more fulfilling than bishop. It was a special calling where the Lord and Holy Ghost is right there with you if you live for it and search for his influence. Those opportunities come and you take them whether you have time for them or not. The Lord compensates. When I was bishop both times, I had businesses I was trying to run and that was a full time job. Being bishop is also a full time job, but He made it possible for me to do both jobs.
KN: How did you communicate technology?
EJN: Our office has only used technology over the past 15 years. I am still behind and have a hard time with email. I’ve only sent about 5 text messages. My secretaries have always done my communication. I don’t even type very well. I went to school using protractors and things you have never heard of. You kids just use a calculator while I’m doing numbers in my head. It’s simple to me because I’ve done it for my whole life. We have seemed to have gotten along without advanced technology just fine. However, it does make things more efficient. Technology is a good thing.
KN: What do your remember about the radio?
EJN: I remember when CV radios came in. I was one of the first to get one in my car. I would call the office and the office would call me which meant I didn’t have to be in the office all the time. I could be out on a project and they could reach me. That was a wonderful technology. You don’t even know what that is because you have cell phones and laptops. Things can be done so much more faster today than before.
KN: Do you have any family traditions?
EJN: We love our children and grandchildren and now we have 5 great-grandchildren. We like to be with them as often as we possibly can. We always get together for any type of ordination, blessing, or recognition that anyone has. We go the extra mile to be with them. Everybody loves each other. All of our posterity in our eyes are wonderful people and we are proud of them. We do things together when we can.
KN: What is the significance of the $2 bill?
EJN: They are scarce and unique. Most people don’t know where to get them. They are something that carry a little bit more significance than just a $5 or $1 bill. I love to give them out to everybody that I think has done something special. When the kids come here in the cold snow for fast offerings, I give them a $2 bill just because it recognizes how special that person is. I kind of use them as a token of my appreciation for who they are.
KN: Do you see yourself in your children?
EJN: I see that some of my children have taken on more of me than others. I see their mother in them all. Their mother raised them. I was gone, other than late at night and early in the morning and on Sundays. Their kindness and principles are exemplified by Charlotte’s teachings. I think they all have a good work ethic. We don’t have a lazy one in the family. When they were little, they were always willing to work. That is our way of doing. We don’t look for long hours of watching television or playing computer games. We look for opportunities to accumulate and use those resources to build Heavenly Father’s kingdom. All of the stuff you see around here will all go to dust. Relationships we have will last into the eternities. That is why it is so important to use our resources to build relationships. I think we’ve done that. I think Heavenly Father is happy with our family. We have our imperfections but by and large, our children are very good primarily because of their mother who has been their stabilizing influence.
KN: Any advice?
EJN: Only to say that I love you and I love all of my grandkids. The Lord has helped us solve so many of our problems. I would hate to be without Him at my side to help me with my frailties and weaknesses. I know I have somebody I can go to who is all powerful who can resolve all problems. Our problem is pride. We often forget and think we can do it ourselves. But He is there for us and answers prayers. He comes to you not always the way you want him to. He is mindful of all of us and wants only the best for us.
