After leaving my Heavenly Home, I arrived on Earth September 12, 1914, and joined my earthly parents Henry Herriman Hintze, my father, and Ethel Irene Sears, my mother. This reunion took place in Wayne Court, located North from 300 South Street, between 200 and 300 West Streets, Salt Lake City, Utah. The home still stands at this writing. I was blessed and named on November 1, 1914, by William G. Sears, mother’s brother. I was the third son and third child, which eventually grew to a family of eleven children, nine boys and two girls, i.e. Harold, Eugene, Wayne, Mary Jane, Henry, Alan, Keith, Lyle, Janis, Wendell, Ray.
Dad was a conductor on the street car, and later was a farmer. When I was three years old the family moved to Hinckley, Utah, where dad was employed by a Bishop Hansen. I vaguely remember the large herd of cows and horses there was to take care of, and a large ditch of water where the geese swam, and for fun the geese loved to chase me and knock me down with their wings. I could never understand why people thought that was funny, as I remember them standing and laughing while the geese had their fun. Our stay in Hinckley was only a year or two, and then back to Salt Lake and then on to Metropolis, Nevada, where dad was water master. I remember the long rides along the ditches and canals, and the many warm water springs coming out of the rocks, ant the many snakes that were around the rocks, that kept us on our toes while we were swimming in the warm water pools. The stay in Nevada was only a year, and then back to Holladay and lived on Holladay Boulevard, North of 4800 South. I could walk to school where I attended the first grade. I remember this house caught fire, but it was put out before much damage was done. At the end of my first school year, dad was persuaded by Bishop Hansen, to go to Elberta, Utah, and manage his farm properties. So in the fall of 1921 we started for Elberta, eighty miles away. We left in the afternoon and at dusk we were somewhere in Lehi when the car stalled. After what seemed like hours to me someone came along and gave us a pull, and finally the car started, and we arrived many hours later in Elberta.
Our first home was a small three-room home located on the farm. Part of the house had a dirt floor, and I remember we had a hard time to keep the snakes out, but the snakes ate the mice, so we thought it better to have snakes rather than mice. Mother wasn’t sure. We had a chicken rooster that loved to take after Jane each time she went out of the house. It seems she was running or screaming every time she went outside. I started the second grade in Elberta and hat to walk a mile or so to school on a dirt road with sagebrush and other vegetation along the side of the road. I couldn’t see very far and I was frightened that wild animals were lurking out there to get me, and then a jack rabbit ran across the road in front of me, the first one I remember seeing, and I thought that was the end of me. I survived and soon got used to the creatures, as there were many of them. The school I attended was a one roomer, each grade, one through sixth, sat in separate rows. We had one teacher, and as she taught each row the others had to do their lessons. We later got a two roomer and hat two teachers. One room, one through three, and the other room, four through six. One teacher was a mean one, every time anyone stood up he would pop them over the head with a ruler. One day I was working real intently building a clay house. I needed to maneuver more than I could accomplish sitting down, so I quietly stood up, and that son-of-a-gun slipped up behind me and bopped me on the head.
Elberta was settled by people from the Middle States and were not LDS. By the time our family arrived, however, there were enough LDS to organize and start holding church meetings. These were fun times. As for recreation, everything was planned through the church and the whole community participated. In the summer we would have picnics in the bowery at Patten’s home, or take the hay wagon pulled by horses, and go ten miles to Utah Lake for swimming and picnic. In the winter there were dances in the school house with Mrs. McDonald, a non-member, playing the piano for the dance music. The McDonald’s ran a store and the post office. I thought up a good way to get some candy from the store. I would find some pretty rocks and take them to the store to pay for the candy. This fine man never turned me down. I later found out that dad made it right when he found out about it.
After we were in Elberta, Bishop Hansen went broke and lost his properties, so we were stranded in Elberta, a beautiful valley, but hardly any of the conveniences that we know today. There was no electricity, we used candies, coal-oil lamps and gas lamps with easy breakable mantles that the flies and moths attack vigorously. No running water, we used a cistern, which was a deep hole in the ground with cemented walls, and a wood cover that could be removed, and we would take the water out with a bucket tied to a rope. The cistern was filled with the water we used to irrigate the farm with. After letting it settle for a few days in the cistern the water became quite pleasant to drink, that is after you strained out the wiglers. We also enjoyed the outside cranny, usually a two holer, sometimes the deluxe model with three holes. You could run the family through faster with this model. You really couldn’t stay long in either motel as the flies loved to attack from the rear which made it uncomfortable. The night time was the best time to use this facility when the flies were asleep, and you could leave the door open.
We lived in several homes in Elberta, each time trying to better our living conditions. We had the misfortune of having two homes burn down and we lost everything in each fire. The years we spent in Elberta were happy years. We didn’t have many conveniences but we had a lot of fun, plenty of food, and enough clothes to keep us covered and warm. I spent my working years on the farm, herding cows, picking fruit, pruning trees, making apple boxes, cleaning chicken coops, working on roads, and cleaning the canal and ditches so we could get water to the farm. Most people liked me to work for them because I was a hard worker. On one occasion I was fired for not waking up after the lunch hour under the pear tree. It was 1:15 when the boss came by and saw me sleeping. He didn’t say anything then, but at quitting time he paid me off and said he didn’t need me anymore. This really upset me. I attended grade school in Elberta, junior high school in Goshen, high school at Granite in Salt Lake, and L.D.S. Business College in Salt Lake. We moved back to the Salt Lake area in 1931, living in Taylorsville.
It was in Taylorsville where I met Dorothy and fell in love. She was a cute, little, petite girl, very popular, and I had to do some fast maneuvering to win her. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple, October 10, 1940, and have raised three fine children, i.e. Kathleen, Larry and Brent. Our first home was at 1888 West 4700 South, which we sold while enlisted in the navy. We then moved to San Francisco until I finished my tour of duty and worked for a plumbing supply house for a few years, in 1947 we returned to Salt Lake at 330 Cheyenne Street. We then built us a home at 1850 West 4700 South, in Taylorsville, where we lived until October 1969, and then moved to our present home at 822 Northcliffe Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah.
After graduating from L.D.S. Business College I took employment as a bookkeeper at Nowell Builders Supply Company. I was soon able to get a better job as private secretary to the boss at Symns Utah Grocer Company, where I worked until I had to go in the service of our country. After returning from the service I worked for U. S. Gypsum Company for a short time, until they wanted to transfer me to Montana. I had been away so long in the service in San Francisco that I wasn’t much interested in moving again, so I looked for another job and started working at Zions Savings Bank & Trust Co., now Zions First National Bank, until I retired as a Senior Vice President on December 31, 1979.
During my time at Zions First National Bank, I attended night classes at the University of Utah, through the American Institute of Banking. I graduated from the Mortgage Banking Schools at Stanford University at Palo Alto, California, and Northwestern University at Chicago, Illinois. I also obtained the designation of Senior Residential Appraiser (SRA) in real estate appraising. I also served as the President of the Salt Lake City Lions Club, the Utah Mortgage Bankers Association and the Society of Real Estate Appraisers – Salt Lake Chapter.
I have been an active Church worker all my life, having served as M.I.A. President several times, Sunday School Superintendent, Sunday School Teacher, Stake Missionary, Priesthood Advisor, Ward Clerk, High Councilman, and at the present time Secretary to the High Priest Group and Ordained Temple Worker in the Salt Lake Temple.
August 1983