Annie V. (Clark) Tanner - 2

and helped many boys get their educations, he looked upon his own children, both Annie's and Josephine's, as farm hands and took them, several at a time, to Cardston to work for the summers--and longer if possible.

Tanner tried repeatedly to get Annie to sell her Farmington home and move to Cardston, but she held out in order to educate her children. Finally, Tanner told her in 1913 that he would not return and that she was on her own. She rented rooms to transient musicians, and she worked for neighbors--washing, scrubbing floors, even painting--for 15 cents an hour. Part of her pay was in milk. Later she worked as a nurse in Salt lake City, mostly 2 weeks at a time on maternity cases. During this period her youngest son, Obert, lived with her brother, Edward, for 5 years. But she kept her Farmington home and was able to conceal her poverty with dignity. All of the children contributed to upkeep of the home, and all finally completed their educations. 

Tanner died suddenly, as he walked through a park in Lethbridge, Alberta. Fourteen years later, with her family grown and her house empty, Annie left her Farmington home and moved to Salt Lake City where her sons helped her buy a new home. When she was 63 she became a mother again for a while-- to the young family of her son, LeVinz, whose wife died. Later in life she wrote a biography of her father, then one of her mother, and in her last year her autobiography, which is on the way to becoming a classic of Mormon literature.