Here is the story of my home growing up that I wrote for this week. John Knollin Sr. and Shirley Messersmith Haws Home 63 South 200 East Lehi, Utah By John K. Haws Jr. Jay and Edith Haws inherited the block on the northeast section of 100 South and 200 East. It was from her father Joseph Samuel. They had four children, John Knollin, Hugh, Ralph and Elaine. He divided the parcel into four building lots that he gave a lot each to his four children. The center of the lot he retained for his cow. John Knollin received the parcel at 63 South and 200 East. The three other lots were sold by the children to other people. This was given to them in 1963, the year President Kennedy was shot and killed. I remember coming home from 4th grade and crying to my mom about President Kennedy. We had just moved into the new house and we didn’t go to church and I remember watching the Ruby murdering on television. The home was started in 1963. Grandpa Jay Haws, who worked for Dugway Proving Grounds and lived away for half of the week, would come home and entirely devote his time to building Knollin’s house. The basement was dug by a machine but all the footings were done by hand. Knollin and Jay would spend all of their time on the house. Shirley also did her share. Grandpa Jay did all the work without charging Knollin or Shirley. The money for the home was borrowed from Shirley’s mother and father and was paid off when they had died with the settlement of the estate. Essentially through it all they received help on all aspects of the home from their parents. The home was built with an unfinished basement except for one bedroom. David and I shared this room with matching bunkbeds. I cannot remember being scared of being in the basement, but have lots of memories of getting away from the family and going downstairs. The top floor for the house included two bedrooms, a bathroom, a utility room, kitchen, a family room/dining room and a formal living room. The formal dining room was a room we only used in special occasions like home teachers, sunday visits from relatives, and Christmas. We always had Christmas in that room. The formal living room had some beautiful furniture, our piano, and a round wood coffee table, and a corner end table with a beautiful gold lamp. The lamp and coffee tables are still in use there today in 2014. There was a wood fireplace put in, but most of growing up, there was never any fireplace in it. There was a beautiful anvil piece that covered the fireplace. There was a marble slab under the fireplace that went the length of the room. You could sit on the ledge as a seat when a crowd would come into the room. The granite slab also went up the wall and had a small ledge where trinkets, pictures, and special items were placed. The room was an avocado green and some Christmas I would go and buy a special candy dish for my mom. She would always place it on the ledge. Later when they closed down the old Fifth Ward Church, we obtained a beautiful cast picture of the Last Supper that filled that wall and is still there toda. Mom and Dad’s bedroom was purple. I grew up thinking that all bedrooms of parents are purple. My Grandma Edith’s bedroom was also purple and white. There were hanging purple lights on each side of the bed. There were two close closets painted white that were on the south of the room. It was the accordion kind of doors. There was also a closet on the west side of the room that was used for a file cabinet and other items. There was always a dark purple bedspread on the master bed. Later mom started quilting beautiful quilts to go on the bed. The hall that led from the Master bedroom past the bathroom and ended by the other bedroom and went into the Family Room. On both sides were full length cupboards and drawers painted white. The cupboard on the right was usually mostly my dads drawers. The top drawer was always his and you could find all of his keepsakes. As a boy I loved to look in that drawer with all his pins, trinkets and other things that were important to him. I remember giving my dad the Book, “Profiles in Courage” by President Kennedy. I cannot believe that I would give him that book. Anybody who knows my dad, that would be a book he wouldn’t want. I would see that book in his special drawer and I would sneak it and read it. The cupboards on the left usually held the games, the sheets and other bedding and included a drawer where we put all the mismatched socks. Many a time that drawer became a target for when we needed socks would go to the drawer and manage to come up with a pair. It was the second drawer, southernmost cupboard on the west side. In these drawers were also some of my mother’s keepsake embroidered pillowcases, afghans and fancy tablecloths. The bedroom on the South started out as Laurene’s bedroom. It was decorated in blue and yellow. I remember there being a lot of daisies. Laurene liked the room, until my Grandma Smith came to live with us and she had to share her bedroom with her. She did not like it and did not like Grandma Smith. Mom and Dad had to eventually put grandma into their bedroom and they slept in with Laurene. Grandma came and they put her in the purple room. It was a special room because I would go into the room and lay on the bed by my Grandma Smith and watch every night Perry Mason. It was on at 11 p.m. and I love Perry Mason to this day because of those memories. I was not allowed to go to the hospital but when they told me she was doing bad, I went into that bedroom and felt really close to her. I knew she was gone. The entryway was a beautiful rock floor. The floor is still the same today. There was a coat closet. When we would clean I would vacuum the Living Room. When we vacuumed it we had to vacuum it a certain way so the vacuum marks were uniform and helped to make the room special. After that we would wash off all of the Dining Room chairs and stack them in the Entryway as we cleaned. The kitchen and dining room was a long room with ugly old fashioned linoleum. While I cannot remember what the linoleum looked like, I knew what fun my friends and I had in that room. Every time my mother would go camping for the weekend, my friends and I would have waterfight that would go from the top floor to the basement. We would have water everywhere. We would slip and slide all over the floor. Oh we had the most fun. When we got done, my friends would help me clean up the floor. When my friends would go home the next day, I would wax the floor and finish cleaning it. My parents were always thrilled to come home to such a clean house. If my kids did something like that I would have a cow. After a couple of years, the basement was started to be worked on. Tile was placed on the floor and another bedroom was fixed and a shower and toilet were piped in. A door was placed on the room, but it was not finished. It gave us another room to get ready for school and church. The basement always had water problems and had a pump going most of the time to keep water from coming in the basement. When the city really had problems with water, the basement started flooding and the northeast bedroom was almost completely covered with water. I remember having my 13th Birthday Party on Friday the 13th in that basement. My parents gave every person some football helmets as prizes and we played dice game and other fun games. On Christmas Eve, we would all sleep in the basement. My brothers and Sisters would play games all night until my parents would let us come up. Those days in the basement were great times for me. When I started working at Kohlers when I was 12, I started having money that I could buy gifts for my brothers and sisters and it was always so fun for me. I can remember the time when we started the garage. Someone came and delivered a load of dirt. All the kids of the neighborhood came with their bikes and rode over the dirt. I can remember Grandpa and dad digging for the footings. At first the garage was not bricked but had the door. Later on, the garage became bricked with similar brick as the house. One of the peculiar things about the house is the roofing. The wood shingles were strong pieces of wood and were overlaid. These are different than the flat shingles done by most roofs. The roof has never had to be repaired or re roofed. By my window, is a large hole. It is filled with dirt. One summer when we went to Washington DC, I came home with a turtle. We placed that turtle in that window and it lived for years, both winter and summer. Another friendly creature we became accustomed to was bats. Yes bats got up in our belfry. There were some small holes and the bats could get into the attic crawl space and became a major inhabitants for them. Each day at sunset, the bats would come out in a large train of hundreds of them from the top of our windows. A lot of times we would have a broom and swing at them. It was eerie because it was like they were coming right for you as they came out for their midnight flight. We put screen over the holes and had professionals come and put poison into the spaces without any success. It took some major demolish to stop the bats from coming back to this space of abode. Shortly thereafter, they were put on the endangered species act and we would not have been able to do anything about it. Mom wanted a hot tub to relax and she put it in. Dad fought against it with all of his might. My kids and I had a lot of fun there with Mom. Hayley even had a party at the Hot Tub. But without maintenance and support from Knollin, it slowly went into disarray and was shut. Soon after Knollin had it hauled away. My parents bought the back pasture spot from my grandfather. After several years they sold the property to Doyle Kohler and Kohlers Food Store. When my mother died and Deanna married my dad the home soon changed. We were not allowed to come and go like we once were. Deanna changed the feel of the house to more a crafty Americana home from the more elegant and inviting feel of the home with Shirley. The home has become a place where Knollin and Deanna have lived and taken care of each other. In 2014, it is now their summer structure while during the winter they head to St. George. It is not filled with family like it once was, but Knollin and Deanna keep the home very immaculate and well taken care of.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:57:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015