Thora Young Criger
Thora Young Criger was born the 4th of September, 1908 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico, the first child of William Harrison Young Sr., and Effie Mae Butler. She eventually was to be joined by four sisters and three brothers. She has had the blessing of great faith and dedication throughout a life where many uncertainties were presented to her. She was at the very impressionable age of 3½ when her dad put her mother, who was expecting her third child in a few weeks, her two year old sister Cecile and herself on the train to El Paso to avoid the ransacking of homes in Colonia Dublan that many times took place by the rebels and armies of the Mexican Revolution. The U.S. Government put many of the people of the Exodus from Mexico in a lumber yard where she remembers her mother draping quilts around posts for a little privacy. The government also brought them food. They were there for some time before their father came and put them on the train for Payson, Utah, where her mother's mother was living. Her sister was born in Payson a little over six weeks after they left Mexico. She remembers being very happy at her grandmother's home, a large two story house with a large orchard and all the fruit they could eat. They stayed in Utah until November 1912 when their father sent money for them to go to Tucson where his brother lived in the little community of Binghampton. They lived in a tent and she has often wondered how her mother cooked and took care of them. In December, their father joined them and milked cows to support them. There was no way to earn much of a living in Binghampton for their family at that time, so in April 1913 their father went back to Colonia Dublan, Mexico.
In June of 1913 their father sent for them, and they took the train to meet him in El Paso, Texas and then together they went by train to Columbus, New Mexico where he had left his wagon and a team of horses. She remembers the trip by wagon back to Colonia Dublan, especially the fun of sleeping on the ground. A group of rebels came by one morning just as the family was getting up. They were not harmed but of course her parents were very frightened. They talked to her father for a few minutes and as they left they said, "Take care of those little white-haired bambinos." The Mexican rebels had taken possession of their home so they lived with their father's uncle. The Rebels were killing and stealing all the time and conditions became worse; her father having some very narrow escapes several times. In 1914 they left Mexico for good and came back to Tucson, to the little community of Binghamton. For the next year her father did odd jobs at whatever he could find to do with his team of horses he had brought out of Mexico. On July 9th 1915 another sister was born and her father got a job as foreman on a large ranch about fourteen miles southwest on the banks of the Santa Cruz River. The ranch was owned by a very kind man by the name of Kinnison. They were quite excited to move there because of the adobe house with four bedrooms and a screen front porch they were to live in. Two narrow escapes were encountered by Thora while at the ranch. The girls often built sand castles and played on the banks of the Santa Cruz that was just 50 ft. from their house. One afternoon she and her sister Cecile had dug a cave under the river bank until they had quite a slide of dirt slanting down to the river bed. They got tired of digging and decided to slide down to the river bed. Her sisters Odeen and Mae were playing a short distance below. Suddenly the bank gave way and completely buried them. The upper portion of Mae's body was covered and a large clod of dirt hit Odeen, pinning her leg to the ground. Odeen was about 5 years old and had the presence of mind to realize the danger and by struggling. was able to free her leg and run and scream for help. Their mother heard and came running and all she saw was the lower half of Mae's body. Mr. Lynn and his hired man had just come from the fields with a load of hay; heard the commotion and came running. They quickly dug all the girls free. Mae was okay but her two sisters were unconscious. As soon as they came to, they started crying. They feel what saved them was they were both sitting up and as they slid down there was an air pocket created. The other close call happened as the cowboys were herding some of the cattle from off the range to the slaughter house. An exhausted steer became very mean and would charge any time they tried to make him go any further. Just as she and Cecile tried to go past he charged. She hurriedly helped Cecile through the fence, but Thora was caught before getting through. He hit her in the stomach with his head as his long sharp horns slipped around her body and he stood there butting her against the barbed wire fence. Again Mr. Lynn came to her rescue. Her father had saved enough money to have a small home built for them in Binghamton. Thora attended a one room adobe schoolhouse with a lumber stage attached to it. This is also where they attended their church meetings. All of the Socials were also held in this building. There were many happy times with the people creating all of their own amusement, such as dances, plays and musical cantatas. In the spring of 1925, a Mr. Roe was looking for a young girl to travel with his wife and two children and to help her take care of the children during the summer. To go to the big city of Santa Monica and to live just two blocks from the ocean was quite an experience for a country girl. She returned in the fall to enter school again. That same year her father moved them to another ranch. This ranch was leased and in the Flowing Wells area. Her father had hopes of becoming independent, earning more money and to be more at home with his family after having had to work away all those years. Thora's education was interrupted part of those two years, as she had to work in order to continue her schooling. Not only did she work on the farm but she worked in other people's homes as a housekeeper for $5.00 a week and room and board. They moved back to Binghampton in 1928 and Thora finished High School, graduating in the spring of 1929. Her Uncle Winsby Butler and his wife took Thora to see her grandmother in Payson, Utah as a graduation present. Thora did not feel well during the trip and upon returning had to have an operation for a very poisonous toxic inward goiter. She was given a blessing before the operation and came through with no complications and a speedy recovery. Her father paid for the hospital bill, but it was necessary for Thora to work again as a housekeeper to pay for the doctor bill because of the Depression. It was while working for a Mrs. Tidmarsh that she started going steady with Robert T. Criger and was married July 25th, 1931 in Florence, Arizona. They had met on a blind date in 1928 and although Bob had come over often with friends and Thora occasionally went out with him and the group, it wasn't until 1930 that they started dating. Times were lean for them when they first started housekeeping in a three room rented apartment on Dodge Blvd. They started to build a house in 1932 on land given to them by Thora's father. Much of the time Bob supported his family as a baker. One of his early jobs, at 14 dollars a week, was at the Vance Baking Co. Their first two children were born at home. One incident shows how, when things are tight, that perseverance, discipline and creativity can pull you through. Their oldest daughter was only nine months old and the only place Bob could find work was in Phoenix. With only $25 dollars a week, they paid rent, made car payments, met household expenses and of course, food. Bob had only one shirt and it had to be washed and ironed and then put back on again. They were determined to put some money away for emergencies so they limited themselves to $5 a week for groceries and fuel for the gas stove they cooked on. They were there for six weeks when they got a call from Bob's brother, telling him if they could get to Tucson in a few days that a Mr. Derbyshire had work for him. The money they had saved for just such an emergency got them back to Tucson and Bob was able to work at this bakery for the next 14 years. Life steadily improved for them and by the time their 3rd child was born, they were able to finish another room in their house. By the time their fourth child was born they were able to add a bathroom, dining room and kitchen onto their home. Thora and her husband lived in this home all their lives. After the death of her husband in 1973, Thora continued to live there, taking care of all her needs until age left her with declining health. The home was sold and she lived with a daughter until it was necessary for her to live in a care home, due to advancing dementia. She passed away in September 1997, with her two daughters at her side.
Thora Young Criger
Thora Young Criger was born the 4th of September, 1908 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico, the first child of William Harrison Young Sr., and Effie Mae Butler. She eventually was to be joined by four sisters and three brothers. She has had the blessing of great faith and dedication throughout a life where many uncertainties were presented to her. She was at the very impressionable age of 3½ when her dad put her mother, who was expecting her third child in a few weeks, her two year old sister Cecile and herself on the train to El Paso to avoid the ransacking of homes in Colonia Dublan that many times took place by the rebels and armies of the Mexican Revolution. The U.S. Government put many of the people of the Exodus from Mexico in a lumber yard where she remembers her mother draping quilts around posts for a little privacy. The government also brought them food. They were there for some time before their father came and put them on the train for Payson, Utah, where her mother's mother was living. Her sister was born in Payson a little over six weeks after they left Mexico. She remembers being very happy at her grandmother's home, a large two story house with a large orchard and all the fruit they could eat. They stayed in Utah until November 1912 when their father sent money for them to go to Tucson where his brother lived in the little community of Binghampton. They lived in a tent and she has often wondered how her mother cooked and took care of them. In December, their father joined them and milked cows to support them. There was no way to earn much of a living in Binghampton for their family at that time, so in April 1913 their father went back to Colonia Dublan, Mexico.
In June of 1913 their father sent for them, and they took the train to meet him in El Paso, Texas and then together they went by train to Columbus, New Mexico where he had left his wagon and a team of horses. She remembers the trip by wagon back to Colonia Dublan, especially the fun of sleeping on the ground. A group of rebels came by one morning just as the family was getting up. They were not harmed but of course her parents were very frightened. They talked to her father for a few minutes and as they left they said, "Take care of those little white-haired bambinos." The Mexican rebels had taken possession of their home so they lived with their father's uncle. The Rebels were killing and stealing all the time and conditions became worse; her father having some very narrow escapes several times. In 1914 they left Mexico for good and came back to Tucson, to the little community of Binghamton. For the next year her father did odd jobs at whatever he could find to do with his team of horses he had brought out of Mexico. On July 9th 1915 another sister was born and her father got a job as foreman on a large ranch about fourteen miles southwest on the banks of the Santa Cruz River. The ranch was owned by a very kind man by the name of Kinnison. They were quite excited to move there because of the adobe house with four bedrooms and a screen front porch they were to live in. Two narrow escapes were encountered by Thora while at the ranch. The girls often built sand castles and played on the banks of the Santa Cruz that was just 50 ft. from their house. One afternoon she and her sister Cecile had dug a cave under the river bank until they had quite a slide of dirt slanting down to the river bed. They got tired of digging and decided to slide down to the river bed. Her sisters Odeen and Mae were playing a short distance below. Suddenly the bank gave way and completely buried them. The upper portion of Mae's body was covered and a large clod of dirt hit Odeen, pinning her leg to the ground. Odeen was about 5 years old and had the presence of mind to realize the danger and by struggling. was able to free her leg and run and scream for help. Their mother heard and came running and all she saw was the lower half of Mae's body. Mr. Lynn and his hired man had just come from the fields with a load of hay; heard the commotion and came running. They quickly dug all the girls free. Mae was okay but her two sisters were unconscious. As soon as they came to, they started crying. They feel what saved them was they were both sitting up and as they slid down there was an air pocket created. The other close call happened as the cowboys were herding some of the cattle from off the range to the slaughter house. An exhausted steer became very mean and would charge any time they tried to make him go any further. Just as she and Cecile tried to go past he charged. She hurriedly helped Cecile through the fence, but Thora was caught before getting through. He hit her in the stomach with his head as his long sharp horns slipped around her body and he stood there butting her against the barbed wire fence. Again Mr. Lynn came to her rescue. Her father had saved enough money to have a small home built for them in Binghamton. Thora attended a one room adobe schoolhouse with a lumber stage attached to it. This is also where they attended their church meetings. All of the Socials were also held in this building. There were many happy times with the people creating all of their own amusement, such as dances, plays and musical cantatas. In the spring of 1925, a Mr. Roe was looking for a young girl to travel with his wife and two children and to help her take care of the children during the summer. To go to the big city of Santa Monica and to live just two blocks from the ocean was quite an experience for a country girl. She returned in the fall to enter school again. That same year her father moved them to another ranch. This ranch was leased and in the Flowing Wells area. Her father had hopes of becoming independent, earning more money and to be more at home with his family after having had to work away all those years. Thora's education was interrupted part of those two years, as she had to work in order to continue her schooling. Not only did she work on the farm but she worked in other people's homes as a housekeeper for $5.00 a week and room and board. They moved back to Binghampton in 1928 and Thora finished High School, graduating in the spring of 1929. Her Uncle Winsby Butler and his wife took Thora to see her grandmother in Payson, Utah as a graduation present. Thora did not feel well during the trip and upon returning had to have an operation for a very poisonous toxic inward goiter. She was given a blessing before the operation and came through with no complications and a speedy recovery. Her father paid for the hospital bill, but it was necessary for Thora to work again as a housekeeper to pay for the doctor bill because of the Depression. It was while working for a Mrs. Tidmarsh that she started going steady with Robert T. Criger and was married July 25th, 1931 in Florence, Arizona. They had met on a blind date in 1928 and although Bob had come over often with friends and Thora occasionally went out with him and the group, it wasn't until 1930 that they started dating. Times were lean for them when they first started housekeeping in a three room rented apartment on Dodge Blvd. They started to build a house in 1932 on land given to them by Thora's father. Much of the time Bob supported his family as a baker. One of his early jobs, at 14 dollars a week, was at the Vance Baking Co. Their first two children were born at home. One incident shows how, when things are tight, that perseverance, discipline and creativity can pull you through. Their oldest daughter was only nine months old and the only place Bob could find work was in Phoenix. With only $25 dollars a week, they paid rent, made car payments, met household expenses and of course, food. Bob had only one shirt and it had to be washed and ironed and then put back on again. They were determined to put some money away for emergencies so they limited themselves to $5 a week for groceries and fuel for the gas stove they cooked on. They were there for six weeks when they got a call from Bob's brother, telling him if they could get to Tucson in a few days that a Mr. Derbyshire had work for him. The money they had saved for just such an emergency got them back to Tucson and Bob was able to work at this bakery for the next 14 years. Life steadily improved for them and by the time their 3rd child was born, they were able to finish another room in their house. By the time their fourth child was born they were able to add a bathroom, dining room and kitchen onto their home. Thora and her husband lived in this home all their lives. After the death of her husband in 1973, Thora continued to live there, taking care of all her needs until age left her with declining health. The home was sold and she lived with a daughter until it was necessary for her to live in a care home, due to advancing dementia. She passed away in September 1997, with her two daughters at her side.
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