Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Tilda Wasden and the Manti Temple


Aunt Cindy sent this to me when she sent my wedding dress and it is a treasured gift. Our Grandma did work at the Manti Temple. Note the signature on her admittance to the dedication. It was the place where she married James Wasden. And then in 1939, our parents and three oldest siblings were sealed together in that temple. I am hoping the Louise, Dwight and Elizabeth will supply the story of that experience.

5 comments:

Louise Blood said...

We went to Manti a day or two after I was baptized, which was September 3, 1939. We went with Grandma and Grandpa in their car. We stayed in Gunnison at Great Aunt Minnie's. The temple sealing took place on September 6, 1939. Dwight, Elizabeth, and I were taken to a room where we dressed in white clothes. I wore the skirt and blouse that I was baptized in. We waited in a room with a very nice lady, also dressed in white, who made us feel as ease. When the time came to go to the sealing room she took us up the circular stairs that are unique in the Manti temple (at lease I remember we saw them .) When we went into the sealing room I saw Mother and Daddy dressed in white, kneeling at the altar. I still have a clear image of them in my mind. Then we knelt by them and were sealed to them. I don't know how much I understood at the time, but the whole experience had a profound influence on me and I knew it was important and sacred. I have felt it a blessing for me to have participated in and have the impressions and some memory of that sacred occassion.

Judy said...

Louise, thank you for sharing your personal memories of that great event. I knew you had special memories and feelings, thank you for sharing them.

Judy said...

Dwight, can you delete that last comment? I took a phone call in the middle and the whole thing looks like I was losing it.

Ann said...

Louise, your memories add an important piece of history. Didn't Grandma talk about polishing the railing on the staircase? This is such a wonderful piece of Grandma Wasden's history. Thank you for sharing, Judy, and thank you for telling your story, Louise.

Elizabeth said...

One interesting thing about these two items: Grandma and Grandpa Wasden were married on March 9, 1898, and a week later he left on his mission. In Grandpa's missionary journal in December, he writes about receiving wonderful news from dear T.C.C.W. (Tilda Christena Christenson Wasden). He doesn't say what the news was, but we know that Uncle David was born then. So, as Grandma's pregnancy had progressed, she was released from her mission in October.
I have limited memories of the trip to the Manti temple. I remember that we were in Salt Lake and it was raining. Somehow I got a bus token (where? why?). And the things I remember about the temple include the room we stayed in while waiting to go to the sealing room. There was a wonderful wooden rocking horse that I wished ardently to ride, but some other child was on it and I was too shy to ask. I remember being taken to the circular staircase by the matron, and I well remember the sealing room, with Mother and Daddy in their temple clothes. That is all, but it is the important part.
And, thank you, Louise, for magnifying the events so well.