IDA LILY TRACY RICE

Ida Lily (Mom)  was the ninth child out of thirteen children born to David Tracy and Rebecca Harriet Taylor. Mom was born and raised in Yost, Utah and spent time working in her father's mercantile store and helping her brothers and sisters with the household duties. She never wrote her history, so I really don't know much about her early life.  One member of her family wrote a brief description of her and said she had a temper (I can attest to that)and one of her brothers received a table fork in his scalp for teasing her.

After Mom and Dad were married, they lived in Yost for several  years where my five older siblings were born. The last five children were born in Almo, Idaho. While living inYost, Mom drove a car to  go to where ever they needed to go. One day with her children in the car she was heading down a hill when the brakes failed. The children thought it was fun going so fast and they were cheering. Mom was able to  stop the car safely, but she never drove a car again.
The family moved to Almo, Idaho and bought land just a few miles east of my Grandmother Rice's ranch.  We were very close with  my dad's family, they were wonderful, happy, loving people. Dad was away much of the time herding sheep, and so a lot of the child rearing was  left to Mom. Mother was a no nonsense mom and any whining, unnecessary crying or tattling was not tolerated. She did have a temper and my sisters and I were on the receiving end of a willow switch when  we disobeyed. We deserved it. My parents raised their food and animals and we all had chores to do, mainly helping with the livestock and working in the garden. The garden was especially  large and Mom canned many fruits and vegetable to eat during the winter.  I remember the corn field seemed to go  on forever.  We were told to stay out of it.  We couldn't resist playing in it when the corn grew tall.  We played hide and seek and ran up and down the rows. Mom would always catch us and we couldn't figure out how she knew because the corn was way over our heads,didn't realize the corn swayed back and forth as we ran through it.
We never missed Church unless we were ill. It was probably well over a mile and because mom didn't drive, we walked and walked. Mom would carry the youngest for most of the way. Very often one of  our neighbors would stop  and give  us a ride, don't know how all  of us fit in the cars. Dad was away at his sheep camp a lot of the time, so we walked.  When we entered the Chapel for Sacrament meeting we did not leave until it was time to go home. While in the meetings we were quiet and reverent. When  we became teenagers Mom relented a little and let us sit in the back with our friends with the stipulation we behaved. Of course we did not. When it became pure pandemonium, one of our mothers, usually mine, would come back  and sit right  in the middle  of us. We were slow learners but when Mom turned around it was dead silent.
One of mom's most admirable traits was her trust and total lack of fear and I mean total. If any of you have ever witnessed a very angry bull pawing the  ground and bellowing loudly, you knew to give that animal a very wide berth. We children would head for the nearest barbed wire fence to put a little  space between us and  the angry bull,  not Mom she walked right past it and went on down the road.  The animals never charged her as far as I can remember anyway. When my parents moved to  Logan, Utah (the ranch became too much for them to take care of) I would go up to visit them as much as possible. There was a little grocery store on  the corner where they went occasionally.  Between their apartment and the store was a neighbor's house with a large, mean dog. Dad and I crossed the street to the other side and got ready to run if the dog appeared.  Mom stayed on the same side as the dog and when he saw us, he would bark and snarl probably at Dad and I as Mom ignored him. He never tried  to attack her, Dad and I took no chances.
Mom died when  she was only   63 years old. She had sarcome (cancer  of the bone) and lived with it two  long excruciating years. The doctors spaced  out meds, they  were worried about addiction, which  meant she was in pain most of the time. We watched helplessly as she  died an inch at a time.  I am very fortunate to have had two such outstanding parents.