A Short History of Eda Idell Johnson Horning
Eda wrote, "I was the fifth child born to my father and mother (Harry Alchane and Mary Ethel [Bushnell] Johnson). I always thought I should have been a boy for growing up on the farm I had to do the work of a boy and as I grew up and up until I stopped growing at 5 feet 11 inches, I knew I should have been a boy."
Eda’s father, Harry Alchane, was 6 feet 4 inches tall and her mother, Mary Ethel Bushnell, was only 5 feet. Harry left Perham, Minnesota and moved to Utah in 1901 and joined the Church in 1902. Mary Ethel was born in Meadow, Utah, and met Harry at Church. After dating several years they were married June 11, 1909. The family grew up in Flowell, Utah, a farming community, six miles west of Fillmore in Millard County. On their farm they raised cows, chickens, turkeys, and sheep, and grew potatoes, corn, cabbage, hay and other grains.
Eda was raised during the Depression, but her family never was without food or a warm home. Their home had no electricity, no inside bathrooms, no running water, except in the flowing well for which Flowell was named. Velma, her older sister, once said that their farmhouse had a dirt floor. Being a family of nine children, they all shared the work. They were always busy and played games together under the gas lamp around the front room table or in front of the Heatarola in the winter.
In the spring of 1936 when Eda was 15, her mother moved their family into their granary as a temporary home. With a pick and shovel and the help of a 16 year-old cousin and her children, Eda’s mother knocked down the walls of her home. The girls dug a one-room basement. Then the family hauled lava rock from the volcano, about four miles away. They used the flooring and lathe from the old house to build a home with three bedrooms. According to Velma, all of the girls slept in the same bedroom and sideways in the same bed. They also had a kitchen, a living room, and fruit cellar in their new home. Loa said that all of the construction was done with little help from her father. This was because he was responsible for caring taking care of the farm while the house was being built. The lava rock home was later sold to John Avalon (Bub) who continued to live there with his family.
Eda wrote, “Cold winter mornings with snow and other things over the tops of our galoshes, my sister and I had to milk sometimes as high as six and eight cows each, run the milk through the cream separator, feed the skimmed milk to the calves and pigs, and put the cream in the kitchen. Then we would eat some breakfast, if we had time, and put ourselves up a lunch, if we had time, and then get ready for school and catch the school bus that took us seven miles to school.”
"When I was twelve year old, I became a Sunday school teacher for the kindergarten class. When I was fourteen, I was secretary of the Sunday school. When I was sixteen, I went to Salt Lake City and hired out to do housework. I only worked two weeks and got scarlet fever. I was so glad because I didn’t like my job at $3.50 a week. I spent almost the whole amount for streetcar fare going in to see my sisters who lived almost in the heart of town.”
“The next summer when I was seventeen, I went to Fillmore and lived with Viola and washed dishes in Shaw’s Café. After a few weeks I started waiting tables and before I didn’t know what was happening, I was the dumbest hasher that ever called beef stew on two. It was all Greek to me. I had never eaten anything in a restaurant but a hamburger and when the cook put out my orders, I had to ask her which was the roast beef and which was the pork, or which was the cube steak and which was the pork chops.”
"In the fall of 1937, I went to college at Brigham Young University and batched with three other girls. I had a very good year and enjoyed my youth immensely.” At B.Y.U. Eda was involved in the Art Guild Club, the Millard Club, the Geferen Social Unit, and majored in art. However the next year her parents couldn't afford to send her back to college.
In 1939 she moved to Winnemucca where she worked as a waitress at the Humbolt Hotel and met Vernon Keith Horning at a St. Patrick's Day dance. A few months later she married him on September 11, 1939 in Flowell, Millard, Utah where her parents lived. She and her husband returned to Nevada and were living in Winnemucca, Nevada when their first son, Robert Earl, was born on March 13, 1941. They lived briefly in Elko, Nevada on Juniper Street from January 1942 to February 1943. Then Richard Vernon joined their family in Winnemucca, Nevada on February 2, 1943.
Eda served in the Primary and in the Relief Society at church. Once she received a silver plated platter from the Relief Society as a thank you for serving in the Relief Society presidency in her ward. Eda was a wonderful fisherman, a hobby that stemmed from experiences she shared with her parents and family. She taught her son, Bob, to bait, catch and clean fish and he also developed a love for the sport. In addition, Eda was involved in community culture and bridge clubs.
In 1954, when Eda was 35 years old and living in Sacramento, she underwent her first heart valve surgery. Her heart valves had been damaged when she got scarlet fever as a young girl. The operation appeared to be a success. Following her surgery, Eda began studying art at Sacramento State College, Sacramento Junior College, and taking private art lessons from Abe Nussbaum Five years later, in 1958, Eda and her family moved back to Reno, Nevada and into their home on Bowman Drive. By this time she was becoming a well-known artist.
Eda was featured in numerous local art shows that displayed her watercolors, pastels, and oil paintings. However, she began to have problems with her heart valves again. Eda had a second open-heart surgery on November 15, 1963. She traveled to the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California where, Dr. Norman Shumway, a world-renowned cardiac surgeon, operated on her. This time she did not recover, but passed away following the surgery at the age of 44.
Eda’s art friends made arrangements to show many of her paintings in a one-man show in Reno, following her death. The owners of her paintings were contacted and many of the paintings were borrowed for the exhibit. Eda’s artistic talents bloomed during her last ten years, as she became a well-known artist in the Reno, Nevada area. Although her life was shorter than most, her art legacy is still with us. Her paintings are treasured many family members.
Eda wrote, "I was the fifth child born to my father and mother (Harry Alchane and Mary Ethel [Bushnell] Johnson). I always thought I should have been a boy for growing up on the farm I had to do the work of a boy and as I grew up and up until I stopped growing at 5 feet 11 inches, I knew I should have been a boy."
Eda’s father, Harry Alchane, was 6 feet 4 inches tall and her mother, Mary Ethel Bushnell, was only 5 feet. Harry left Perham, Minnesota and moved to Utah in 1901 and joined the Church in 1902. Mary Ethel was born in Meadow, Utah, and met Harry at Church. After dating several years they were married June 11, 1909. The family grew up in Flowell, Utah, a farming community, six miles west of Fillmore in Millard County. On their farm they raised cows, chickens, turkeys, and sheep, and grew potatoes, corn, cabbage, hay and other grains.
Eda was raised during the Depression, but her family never was without food or a warm home. Their home had no electricity, no inside bathrooms, no running water, except in the flowing well for which Flowell was named. Velma, her older sister, once said that their farmhouse had a dirt floor. Being a family of nine children, they all shared the work. They were always busy and played games together under the gas lamp around the front room table or in front of the Heatarola in the winter.
In the spring of 1936 when Eda was 15, her mother moved their family into their granary as a temporary home. With a pick and shovel and the help of a 16 year-old cousin and her children, Eda’s mother knocked down the walls of her home. The girls dug a one-room basement. Then the family hauled lava rock from the volcano, about four miles away. They used the flooring and lathe from the old house to build a home with three bedrooms. According to Velma, all of the girls slept in the same bedroom and sideways in the same bed. They also had a kitchen, a living room, and fruit cellar in their new home. Loa said that all of the construction was done with little help from her father. This was because he was responsible for caring taking care of the farm while the house was being built. The lava rock home was later sold to John Avalon (Bub) who continued to live there with his family.
Eda wrote, “Cold winter mornings with snow and other things over the tops of our galoshes, my sister and I had to milk sometimes as high as six and eight cows each, run the milk through the cream separator, feed the skimmed milk to the calves and pigs, and put the cream in the kitchen. Then we would eat some breakfast, if we had time, and put ourselves up a lunch, if we had time, and then get ready for school and catch the school bus that took us seven miles to school.”
"When I was twelve year old, I became a Sunday school teacher for the kindergarten class. When I was fourteen, I was secretary of the Sunday school. When I was sixteen, I went to Salt Lake City and hired out to do housework. I only worked two weeks and got scarlet fever. I was so glad because I didn’t like my job at $3.50 a week. I spent almost the whole amount for streetcar fare going in to see my sisters who lived almost in the heart of town.”
“The next summer when I was seventeen, I went to Fillmore and lived with Viola and washed dishes in Shaw’s Café. After a few weeks I started waiting tables and before I didn’t know what was happening, I was the dumbest hasher that ever called beef stew on two. It was all Greek to me. I had never eaten anything in a restaurant but a hamburger and when the cook put out my orders, I had to ask her which was the roast beef and which was the pork, or which was the cube steak and which was the pork chops.”
"In the fall of 1937, I went to college at Brigham Young University and batched with three other girls. I had a very good year and enjoyed my youth immensely.” At B.Y.U. Eda was involved in the Art Guild Club, the Millard Club, the Geferen Social Unit, and majored in art. However the next year her parents couldn't afford to send her back to college.
In 1939 she moved to Winnemucca where she worked as a waitress at the Humbolt Hotel and met Vernon Keith Horning at a St. Patrick's Day dance. A few months later she married him on September 11, 1939 in Flowell, Millard, Utah where her parents lived. She and her husband returned to Nevada and were living in Winnemucca, Nevada when their first son, Robert Earl, was born on March 13, 1941. They lived briefly in Elko, Nevada on Juniper Street from January 1942 to February 1943. Then Richard Vernon joined their family in Winnemucca, Nevada on February 2, 1943.
Eda served in the Primary and in the Relief Society at church. Once she received a silver plated platter from the Relief Society as a thank you for serving in the Relief Society presidency in her ward. Eda was a wonderful fisherman, a hobby that stemmed from experiences she shared with her parents and family. She taught her son, Bob, to bait, catch and clean fish and he also developed a love for the sport. In addition, Eda was involved in community culture and bridge clubs.
In 1954, when Eda was 35 years old and living in Sacramento, she underwent her first heart valve surgery. Her heart valves had been damaged when she got scarlet fever as a young girl. The operation appeared to be a success. Following her surgery, Eda began studying art at Sacramento State College, Sacramento Junior College, and taking private art lessons from Abe Nussbaum Five years later, in 1958, Eda and her family moved back to Reno, Nevada and into their home on Bowman Drive. By this time she was becoming a well-known artist.
Eda was featured in numerous local art shows that displayed her watercolors, pastels, and oil paintings. However, she began to have problems with her heart valves again. Eda had a second open-heart surgery on November 15, 1963. She traveled to the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California where, Dr. Norman Shumway, a world-renowned cardiac surgeon, operated on her. This time she did not recover, but passed away following the surgery at the age of 44.
Eda’s art friends made arrangements to show many of her paintings in a one-man show in Reno, following her death. The owners of her paintings were contacted and many of the paintings were borrowed for the exhibit. Eda’s artistic talents bloomed during her last ten years, as she became a well-known artist in the Reno, Nevada area. Although her life was shorter than most, her art legacy is still with us. Her paintings are treasured many family members.
A Short History of Eda Idell Johnson Horning
Eda wrote, "I was the fifth child born to my father and mother (Harry Alchane and Mary Ethel [Bushnell] Johnson). I always thought I should have been a boy for growing up on the farm I had to do the work of a boy and as I grew up and up until I stopped growing at 5 feet 11 inches, I knew I should have been a boy."
Eda’s father, Harry Alchane, was 6 feet 4 inches tall and her mother, Mary Ethel Bushnell, was only 5 feet. Harry left Perham, Minnesota and moved to Utah in 1901 and joined the Church in 1902. Mary Ethel was born in Meadow, Utah, and met Harry at Church. After dating several years they were married June 11, 1909. The family grew up in Flowell, Utah, a farming community, six miles west of Fillmore in Millard County. On their farm they raised cows, chickens, turkeys, and sheep, and grew potatoes, corn, cabbage, hay and other grains.
Eda was raised during the Depression, but her family never was without food or a warm home. Their home had no electricity, no inside bathrooms, no running water, except in the flowing well for which Flowell was named. Velma, her older sister, once said that their farmhouse had a dirt floor. Being a family of nine children, they all shared the work. They were always busy and played games together under the gas lamp around the front room table or in front of the Heatarola in the winter.
In the spring of 1936 when Eda was 15, her mother moved their family into their granary as a temporary home. With a pick and shovel and the help of a 16 year-old cousin and her children, Eda’s mother knocked down the walls of her home. The girls dug a one-room basement. Then the family hauled lava rock from the volcano, about four miles away. They used the flooring and lathe from the old house to build a home with three bedrooms. According to Velma, all of the girls slept in the same bedroom and sideways in the same bed. They also had a kitchen, a living room, and fruit cellar in their new home. Loa said that all of the construction was done with little help from her father. This was because he was responsible for caring taking care of the farm while the house was being built. The lava rock home was later sold to John Avalon (Bub) who continued to live there with his family.
Eda wrote, “Cold winter mornings with snow and other things over the tops of our galoshes, my sister and I had to milk sometimes as high as six and eight cows each, run the milk through the cream separator, feed the skimmed milk to the calves and pigs, and put the cream in the kitchen. Then we would eat some breakfast, if we had time, and put ourselves up a lunch, if we had time, and then get ready for school and catch the school bus that took us seven miles to school.”
"When I was twelve year old, I became a Sunday school teacher for the kindergarten class. When I was fourteen, I was secretary of the Sunday school. When I was sixteen, I went to Salt Lake City and hired out to do housework. I only worked two weeks and got scarlet fever. I was so glad because I didn’t like my job at $3.50 a week. I spent almost the whole amount for streetcar fare going in to see my sisters who lived almost in the heart of town.”
“The next summer when I was seventeen, I went to Fillmore and lived with Viola and washed dishes in Shaw’s Café. After a few weeks I started waiting tables and before I didn’t know what was happening, I was the dumbest hasher that ever called beef stew on two. It was all Greek to me. I had never eaten anything in a restaurant but a hamburger and when the cook put out my orders, I had to ask her which was the roast beef and which was the pork, or which was the cube steak and which was the pork chops.”
"In the fall of 1937, I went to college at Brigham Young University and batched with three other girls. I had a very good year and enjoyed my youth immensely.” At B.Y.U. Eda was involved in the Art Guild Club, the Millard Club, the Geferen Social Unit, and majored in art. However the next year her parents couldn't afford to send her back to college.
In 1939 she moved to Winnemucca where she worked as a waitress at the Humbolt Hotel and met Vernon Keith Horning at a St. Patrick's Day dance. A few months later she married him on September 11, 1939 in Flowell, Millard, Utah where her parents lived. She and her husband returned to Nevada and were living in Winnemucca, Nevada when their first son, Robert Earl, was born on March 13, 1941. They lived briefly in Elko, Nevada on Juniper Street from January 1942 to February 1943. Then Richard Vernon joined their family in Winnemucca, Nevada on February 2, 1943.
Eda served in the Primary and in the Relief Society at church. Once she received a silver plated platter from the Relief Society as a thank you for serving in the Relief Society presidency in her ward. Eda was a wonderful fisherman, a hobby that stemmed from experiences she shared with her parents and family. She taught her son, Bob, to bait, catch and clean fish and he also developed a love for the sport. In addition, Eda was involved in community culture and bridge clubs.
In 1954, when Eda was 35 years old and living in Sacramento, she underwent her first heart valve surgery. Her heart valves had been damaged when she got scarlet fever as a young girl. The operation appeared to be a success. Following her surgery, Eda began studying art at Sacramento State College, Sacramento Junior College, and taking private art lessons from Abe Nussbaum Five years later, in 1958, Eda and her family moved back to Reno, Nevada and into their home on Bowman Drive. By this time she was becoming a well-known artist.
Eda was featured in numerous local art shows that displayed her watercolors, pastels, and oil paintings. However, she began to have problems with her heart valves again. Eda had a second open-heart surgery on November 15, 1963. She traveled to the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California where, Dr. Norman Shumway, a world-renowned cardiac surgeon, operated on her. This time she did not recover, but passed away following the surgery at the age of 44.
Eda’s art friends made arrangements to show many of her paintings in a one-man show in Reno, following her death. The owners of her paintings were contacted and many of the paintings were borrowed for the exhibit. Eda’s artistic talents bloomed during her last ten years, as she became a well-known artist in the Reno, Nevada area. Although her life was shorter than most, her art legacy is still with us. Her paintings are treasured many family members.
Eda wrote, "I was the fifth child born to my father and mother (Harry Alchane and Mary Ethel [Bushnell] Johnson). I always thought I should have been a boy for growing up on the farm I had to do the work of a boy and as I grew up and up until I stopped growing at 5 feet 11 inches, I knew I should have been a boy."
Eda’s father, Harry Alchane, was 6 feet 4 inches tall and her mother, Mary Ethel Bushnell, was only 5 feet. Harry left Perham, Minnesota and moved to Utah in 1901 and joined the Church in 1902. Mary Ethel was born in Meadow, Utah, and met Harry at Church. After dating several years they were married June 11, 1909. The family grew up in Flowell, Utah, a farming community, six miles west of Fillmore in Millard County. On their farm they raised cows, chickens, turkeys, and sheep, and grew potatoes, corn, cabbage, hay and other grains.
Eda was raised during the Depression, but her family never was without food or a warm home. Their home had no electricity, no inside bathrooms, no running water, except in the flowing well for which Flowell was named. Velma, her older sister, once said that their farmhouse had a dirt floor. Being a family of nine children, they all shared the work. They were always busy and played games together under the gas lamp around the front room table or in front of the Heatarola in the winter.
In the spring of 1936 when Eda was 15, her mother moved their family into their granary as a temporary home. With a pick and shovel and the help of a 16 year-old cousin and her children, Eda’s mother knocked down the walls of her home. The girls dug a one-room basement. Then the family hauled lava rock from the volcano, about four miles away. They used the flooring and lathe from the old house to build a home with three bedrooms. According to Velma, all of the girls slept in the same bedroom and sideways in the same bed. They also had a kitchen, a living room, and fruit cellar in their new home. Loa said that all of the construction was done with little help from her father. This was because he was responsible for caring taking care of the farm while the house was being built. The lava rock home was later sold to John Avalon (Bub) who continued to live there with his family.
Eda wrote, “Cold winter mornings with snow and other things over the tops of our galoshes, my sister and I had to milk sometimes as high as six and eight cows each, run the milk through the cream separator, feed the skimmed milk to the calves and pigs, and put the cream in the kitchen. Then we would eat some breakfast, if we had time, and put ourselves up a lunch, if we had time, and then get ready for school and catch the school bus that took us seven miles to school.”
"When I was twelve year old, I became a Sunday school teacher for the kindergarten class. When I was fourteen, I was secretary of the Sunday school. When I was sixteen, I went to Salt Lake City and hired out to do housework. I only worked two weeks and got scarlet fever. I was so glad because I didn’t like my job at $3.50 a week. I spent almost the whole amount for streetcar fare going in to see my sisters who lived almost in the heart of town.”
“The next summer when I was seventeen, I went to Fillmore and lived with Viola and washed dishes in Shaw’s Café. After a few weeks I started waiting tables and before I didn’t know what was happening, I was the dumbest hasher that ever called beef stew on two. It was all Greek to me. I had never eaten anything in a restaurant but a hamburger and when the cook put out my orders, I had to ask her which was the roast beef and which was the pork, or which was the cube steak and which was the pork chops.”
"In the fall of 1937, I went to college at Brigham Young University and batched with three other girls. I had a very good year and enjoyed my youth immensely.” At B.Y.U. Eda was involved in the Art Guild Club, the Millard Club, the Geferen Social Unit, and majored in art. However the next year her parents couldn't afford to send her back to college.
In 1939 she moved to Winnemucca where she worked as a waitress at the Humbolt Hotel and met Vernon Keith Horning at a St. Patrick's Day dance. A few months later she married him on September 11, 1939 in Flowell, Millard, Utah where her parents lived. She and her husband returned to Nevada and were living in Winnemucca, Nevada when their first son, Robert Earl, was born on March 13, 1941. They lived briefly in Elko, Nevada on Juniper Street from January 1942 to February 1943. Then Richard Vernon joined their family in Winnemucca, Nevada on February 2, 1943.
Eda served in the Primary and in the Relief Society at church. Once she received a silver plated platter from the Relief Society as a thank you for serving in the Relief Society presidency in her ward. Eda was a wonderful fisherman, a hobby that stemmed from experiences she shared with her parents and family. She taught her son, Bob, to bait, catch and clean fish and he also developed a love for the sport. In addition, Eda was involved in community culture and bridge clubs.
In 1954, when Eda was 35 years old and living in Sacramento, she underwent her first heart valve surgery. Her heart valves had been damaged when she got scarlet fever as a young girl. The operation appeared to be a success. Following her surgery, Eda began studying art at Sacramento State College, Sacramento Junior College, and taking private art lessons from Abe Nussbaum Five years later, in 1958, Eda and her family moved back to Reno, Nevada and into their home on Bowman Drive. By this time she was becoming a well-known artist.
Eda was featured in numerous local art shows that displayed her watercolors, pastels, and oil paintings. However, she began to have problems with her heart valves again. Eda had a second open-heart surgery on November 15, 1963. She traveled to the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California where, Dr. Norman Shumway, a world-renowned cardiac surgeon, operated on her. This time she did not recover, but passed away following the surgery at the age of 44.
Eda’s art friends made arrangements to show many of her paintings in a one-man show in Reno, following her death. The owners of her paintings were contacted and many of the paintings were borrowed for the exhibit. Eda’s artistic talents bloomed during her last ten years, as she became a well-known artist in the Reno, Nevada area. Although her life was shorter than most, her art legacy is still with us. Her paintings are treasured many family members.
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