Wallace Henry Prigmore

Jerry shared this with me:

Life Sketch of Wallace Henry Prigmore

Wallace Henry Prigmore passed away peacefully on JULY 8, 2010. He was born to Charles Henry and Bertha Windross Prigmore, English immigrants; in Kaysville, Utah on December 17th 1922 in a small two story house across the street from the Deseret Mills granary where he was raised with two brothers and two sisters.

When he was a boy, Wally was the youngest of 5 children, and he appreciated the watching over that he received from his older siblings, and enjoyed their company.

He was active as a child, and used to tell the story of when he once jumped from a ledge with scissors in his hands and cut his abdomen. Others gathered around to console him about his wound and one of them offered him a drink of water. He was glad for their kindness, but he refused the water fearing that if he drank it he would leak.

As he got a little older he worked in the pea cannery in Kaysville and working long hours gained a reputation as a hard worker which he was all of his life.

He was active in sports, playing football in high school, and also had the lead in the Davis High School play, along with Esther Mitchell from Woods Cross whom he eventually married. There was some concern in the family many years later when they found some love letters from this time period, to someone named Nancy. Finally it was realized that Esther’s name in the play was Nancy and he had picked up on it as a pet name for her. He graduated in 1942.

World War II was on when he graduated from high school, and he joined the Marine Corp. He was sent to the South Pacific as an anti aircraft gunner for three years, and was stationed in the South Pacific in Hawaii, Australia, New Britain and in the Solomon Islands. His favorite spot was an Island in the Solomon’s called Woodlark, about 150 miles Northeast of New Guinea. He described it as a kind of paradise with palm trees, beautiful beaches and many colorful parrots in the treetops. He always talked like he would like to return there to visit some day. It was a considerable distance out of the way however and he never made it back.

During his tour of duty because he was a Mormon and did not drink or smoke he was nicknamed Brigham. The other men would tease him about having a drink with them but he always refused. At the end of the three years when the war was over and they were about to be discharged one of the men held out a drink and told him that surely after all they had been through together and to mark the end of the war he must now have a celebratory drink with them. With no intention of actually drinking it, he played along and reached for the drink. Showing a respect that Wally did not anticipate, the roughest character among them who had always been active in taunting him stood up and grabbed the drink out of his hand saying “You’ve come this far Wally, you’re not going to give in now!”

I loved as a child to hear his stories of the war, and I begged him every night to tell them to me before I went to bed. In the process he inspired in me a desire to visit the islands he saw, and when it came time for my generation to go to war I followed his footsteps in joining the Marine Corp. I’ve seen Hawaii and Australia, but I’m still working on that trip to Woodlark.

After the War, he married Esther Mitchell of Woods Cross, Utah in the Salt Lake Temple. For a time he attended the University of Utah, and also learned an electrical trade in which he worked for a time winding large electric diesel motors for train engines while working for General Electric in Salt Lake.

They lived in Salt Lake City and in Bountiful for several years then moved to Billings, Montana where they stayed for 48 years. While there he worked in the wholesale electronics business and later in real estate sales. On the side he also ran a nursery and landscaping business planting lawns and shrubbery; a business which kept both him and me busy during the summer months of my teenage years. I’m sure we must have planted half the lawns in Billings during that time.

When he wasn’t working, he was usually in a church meeting. The Church was growing in Billings, and Mom & Dad were in meetings so much that I was pretty sure Rella and I were orphans. They travelled the Mission, the District and the Stake often, and our family vacations were nearly always tied with an assigned Church visit somewhere or to attendance at General Conference in Salt Lake. He was a counselor in the West Central States Mission Presidency and spent nine years as a counselor in the Billings Montana Stake Presidency.

After Esther passed away in 1990, he did landscaping and maintenance work for the Church in Billings. When he got to the point that he could no longer work, he thought it was a rotten deal when he was forced to retire. I think given a choice he would have just worked every day until he died.

When he could no longer work, the family brought him to Utah where he has lived for the past 8 years. In recent years he has lived in Salt Lake with his daughter Rella and her husband Ken Roberts.

He has missed Esther ever since she died, and I am sure he is delighted to be with her again.

Leola Webster Prigmore

In Loving Memory of
LEOLA WEBSTER PRIGMORE
April 17, 1923 - May 17, 2010
Funeral Services- Saturday, May 22, 2010
Kaysville Tabernacle- 11 a.m.
Interment- Kaysville Cemetery

I have a lot of fond memories of Aunt Leola. She was a very special aunt to me. I had many good times staying at her home as a kid, dropping by to see her as an adult, listening to her talk about her beloved Jazz basketball team, receiving and reading her Christmas letters etc. It was nice to see everyone even though it was under such circumstances. I love the old Kaysville Tabernacle with its stained glass windows. It is the meetinghouse where Grandma and Grandpa Prigmore attended church and where they had their funerals as well. I remember going to sacrament meeting there with cousin Kathy to hear Uncle Gene give a high council talk.

The last leaves on the tree:

Uncle Gene

Uncle Wally

Beautiful casket spray

Floral offerings

L-R: Mary Ann, Sarah, Kathy (partially

hidden) Ed, Uncle Gene and John

Family at the gravesite



Larry, Jill, Annette, Don, Ron, Jean, Lorraine

Bernice and Jerry

Family headstones in Kaysville Cemetery:

Progress on the Windross Line

In the time when Marilyn is not assisting patrons at the Family History Library in Salt Lake, she has been working on the Windross family line. That is Grandma Bertha Prigmore's side of the family. Some of the individuals Marilyn has found are not our direct line, but are branches on the same tree...siblings, their children etc. At least we have a common ancestor with them. Some of my grandchildren and Marilyn's granddaughters have done baptisms and confirmations. Ron and Jodie had their ward youth complete some also. Marilyn has handed out name cards to some family members and would appreciate prompt completion the work and then returning the cards to her in a timely manner. (That note is for me!) If I understand Marilyn correctly, there is no way that a few of us will be able to do the ordinance work for all relatives she has documented. I think she is having to send some of the cards to the temple for other patrons to complete. Sometimes temple work seems more meaningful if there is a personal connection to those for whom you are acting as proxy. If you are interested in doing some of this important work, please contact Marilyn to see if she is able to supply you with some name cards. Her email address is: mmadams99@yahoo.com.

Decendancy List

I have withdrawn the bulk of this post. It contained names and dates of Grandma and Grandpa Prigmore's posterity. I thought I had made the security settings strict enough that the general public couldn't get on the blog without knowing the address of the blog, but that was not the case. I appreciate Ken Prigmore raising the question of security where everyone's (living individuals) information is posted for the world to see. I certainly don't want anyone becoming the target of identity theft. I would still like every branch of the Bertha and Charlie Prigmore to email me with all the names and dates (birth, baptism, endowment, marriage, death etc.) of each family member. I could then share that information with any of the other family members who would like it. The last information I have for most of the family (except Edna's decendants) is from a gray Prigmore Family binder that Uncle Wally and Jerry put together about 15 1/2 years ago. Please email with new information! kathyreedc@msn.com.


Charles Henry Prigmore (b.21 Nov 1883;d.29 Oct 1982)
sp: Bertha Windross (b.11 Apr 1882;m.28 Oct 1910;d.27 Feb 1968)

Rose Alice Prigmore (b.17 Dec 1911;d.30 Jun 1966)
sp: Jesse Brough Flint (b.17 Oct 1884;m.15 Mar 1948;d.12 Mar 1969)

James Windross Prigmore (b.14 Mar 1915;d.4 Jan 1994)
sp: Myrtle Jane Moss (b.2 Feb 1917;m.1 Oct 1934;d.13 Aug 2000)

Edna May Prigmore (b.2 May 1917;d.22 Feb 2009)
sp: Horace James Milligan (b.13 Mar 1921;m.20 Nov 1946;d.8 Jan 1998)

sp: Esther Mitchell (b.1 Jul 1922;m.7 Nov 1945;d.27 Oct 1990)