Elva Maria Davis McFarlane Wayne

If we could name the special moments of our lives, even if we weren't present, one such time in the lives of all who would come to know and love her would be Oct. 4, 1910. This was the day of the birth of Elva Maria Davis, the ninth child of Ernest Edward Davis and Nancy Maria Shoemaker. Elva was born in the little, two-room home where the family lived one block south of Main Street in Cleveland, Utah.

Elva's childhood was a happy one. She spent her time herding pigs and cows, making mudpies with her sisters, learning sewing and handiwork along with her mother, and learning to garden with her father. A love for gardening and beautiful flowers was instilled in her at a very young age was something she never outgrew.

The Davis family was an industrious family. Ernest Davis had come to America in 1883 with his mother, brother and sisters. Ernie, as he was affectionately called, began working in the Scofield Mine at the young age of 13, earning $1 a day. He moved to Cleveland with the earliest settlers and took up farming, helping to form the Cleveland Canal and Irrigation Company.

He taught all of his children to work hard and be honest. He also felt that they should have recreation in their lives and so he created a family band and orchestra. Each child played an instrument in the band and Ernie could play all of them but his favorites were the coronet and the violin.

While a young woman, Elva was honored to help pin awards on World War I Veterans during a special ceremony.

Once voted the "most popular girl in Cleveland" she would always admit to getting along better with the boys than with the girls. One particular young man by the name of Rex McFarlane had been around all of her life. She can't remember when she didn't know him.

After working hard on a threshing machine, Rex took the grain he had earned and sold it to buy a load of watermelons. He invited all of his friends to come and so it was that Elva found herself at a watermelon bust.

Rex had given everyone half a melon and Elva ate on hers until it was nice and juicy. Then being rather impulsive, she decided to throw it up in the air and see where it would land. Rex looked up just in time to have it ring his face. Before long Elva was wearing a ring on her finger and they were married in 1931 in Price, Utah.

Their wedding night was a long one with family and friends working hard to keep the new bride and groom apart. Nell helped Elva hide with a blanket in a ditch. She stayed there all night waiting for Rex who didn't fare so well. The gang dressed him up in Elva's old dress with a pair of old bloomers on his head and threw him into a meeting at the church.

The McFarlanes began their married life in the same little two-room cabin that Elva was born in (her family having moved to a lovely home on Main Street). Once after a fight, Elva left him and went across to her parents home. Rex showed up a while later saying if that old house wasn't good enough for her, it wasn't good enough for him either and they'd both live with her parents. Elva went home with Rex and she never left him again.

Rex was the water master making $60 a month when their first child, Shawna was born. Rex now had a wife, a darling daughter, a horse and a dog to feed on his meager salary. Even so he was able to purchase three houses in Sunnyside and move them to Cleveland. He purchased his for $50 and his brother-in-law Ernest put it together on a lot in the orchard right next to Elva's parents' home. This is the home where Elva lives today.

In 1934 a baby boy joined the McFarlane family. He was named Thyrill Rex. Shortly thereafter, Rex injured his neck in a rodeo, ending his long history of riding saddle bronc.

Delvin Parlan born in 1938 and William Deon was born in 1939, both in Cleveland. The next few years were spent with Rex selling cars in Price and working in the coal mines. In the fall of 1942 he moved the family to Sunnyside, Utah to work in the mine. During this time the children all had the measles and chicken pox. Little Deon just didn't get better and on Feb. 18, 1943 he died of pneumonia.

In April 1945 Ernie Delan was born in Sunnyside, Utah. They loved having another little brother and he was welcomed with open arms into the family.

In August of 1947 Rex was burned in the mine and he never really recovered. After spending a couple of months in the hospital where he was very ill, he died on March 5, 1948. On his death Elva was left with four children; Shawna 15, Thyrill 13, Delvin 10, and Ernie almost 3.

Rex and Elva had always loved to sing. They sang on trips and around the house and while working, but after he died she almost stopped singing.

She took a job managing a theater in Sunnyside where she met John Wayne. They were married and moved to Oregon for a while and then moved back to Cleveland. Elva never moved away from Cleveland after that.

When she was again left rearing her children alone she worked very hard to make ends meet. Her gardening skills had always come in handy and she fed her family by growing her own food and canning and preserving what she grew.

She made her own butter, which she also sold during the war. She had many jobs including working at the grocery store in Huntington, filling in for the post-mistress in Cleveland, secretary for the Cleveland Town Board, and working at the Drive In owned by her sister and brother-in- law, Erma and Parley Hinkins.

The job she will be remembered best for though was that of the Avon Lady. Elva sold Avon for 25 years in Cleveland and Elmo. She was a very pretty woman and was a natural to sell cosmetics and beauty supplies. She had regular customers who became dear friends and she looked forward to seeing them.

When the family home seemed to be too small, Elva and Thyrill and Delvin moved the roof back and added on. Over the years she remodeled, added now siding, roofing, carpeting and other improvements until her little home was just as she liked it.

In 1952 Thyrill went into the Navy. During this time Delvin needed someone to go hunting with while his big brother was gone so Elva donned her hunting clothes and took him hunting. She never could close just one eye so she made herself an eye patch to use while shooting.

After being honorably discharged from the Navy, Thyrill was hunting with his brothers Delvin and Ernie, on May 18, 1957 when he was killed in a tragic accident. This was a devastating event for all of them.

Elva was given an American Flag by the American Legion at Thyrill's funeral. From that day on every year on Memorial Day, Elva was at the cemetery at sunrise putting up the flag just as the sun began to rise. This became a very special ritual to her children and grandchildren, teaching them of patriotism and love of family and country.

In 1958 Delvin was called on a mission to the New England States Mission. He supported himself with money he had earned as a Carpenter's apprentice. At this time Elva went to the Manti Temple and had her marriage to Rex solemnized.

Now it was just Elva and her son, Ernie at home. She taught him to do all the things a dad would have taught him. She also taught him to be independent and then later wondered why he was so independent. Ernie brought home a dog they named Blob and he was to be a companion for many years.

Elva was blessed with many talents. She is a beautiful seamstress. She would often make clothes for the children out of her clothes, making Shawna about the best dressed little girl around. She would make most of these clothes without a pattern. She would go to bed at night thinking about how to make a particular garment and in the morning she'd wake up and create it.

Before there were silk or plastic flowers she made beautiful crepe paper flowers, especially roses that she arranged into beautiful wreaths, sprays, and bouquets and sold for extra money. She also decorated the graves of her family members with them.

Elva has made many quilts for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, wanting them all to have a beautiful quilt made by her for their wedding. All the babies had a new quilt or shawl. Many of the grandchildren have hand made dolls made by Grandma Wayne.

Elva loves to garden and especially loves growing roses. In 1976 she was awarded a prize for having the prettiest flowers in Cleveland. She has fed many people, always loving to cook for others. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren say she makes the best apple pie in the world. She has held several positions in the LDS church, but the ones that are best remembered are being the secretary of the Sunday School and being a counselor in Relief Society to her friend, Vernice Ward.

The past few years have been more difficult for Elva. After being diagnosed with colon cancer and the subsequent surgery she has never really bounced back to her energetic self. it hasn't stopped her from trying, however. She still grows a garden, takes care of her yard, babies her roses, cooks meals for her family, makes quilts, etc. She is now at the age where she has had to bid farewell to many of her friends and family. She is the last surviving child of Ernie and Nancy Davis.

Not long before Wanda died she and Elva worked together to remember the songs that their mother used to sing. Elva has recently finished handwriting 40 of these songs and is having them put into a book for her family.

Elva is greatly loved by her posterity of five children, (three living), 12 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren and all of their spouses. She just recently celebrated her 89th birthday (1999) and her family plans to have a really big party for her 90th.

When her life her on earth is finished, Elva will be remembered for many things, but especially for her dedication to her family and the values that she instilled in them.