Orvil with his mother, HansenaOrvil Lorenzo Larson was born May 25th, 1875 in Ephraim, Utah. The early part of Orvil's life was spent in Ephraim. His parents, coming from Denmark, were among the Danish saints whose church leaders located in southern Utah. When Orvil was six months old, they moved to Mayfield, where they built a home and had a small farm and raised cattle and horses. At 12 years old he used to herd sheep in the hills northeast of Mayfield.
He attended grade school and graduated from the eighth grade. He left his home in Mayfield in the fall of 1895 to attend the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah. At the Academy, the going was rough. Classes were difficult and required a lot of study. Six man football had just been approved so Orvil became a member of the first BYA (later BYU) football team in 1896. In 1897 they beat the U of U 3 times and won the championship.
At 72 years old, Orvil and his teammates were honored at the 1947 BYU homecoming game, 50 years since the championship. He loved to write poetry and was always good at composing his thoughts in rhyme.
Orvil and his brother, Heber, decided to come to Gila Valley and teach school. Orvil taught school in San Jose, Hubbard, Pima, and Thatcher. He enjoyed working with the young people. While he was teaching in the Thatcher schools, he helped construct the playground equipment. He took his students on many picnics where the only transportation was hay-racks and horses. They went to Cluff Ranch and other places.
Orvil (far left) as a teacher
In 1919 Orvil and Hazel purchased the old Brinkeroff Hotel as their home. It had no indoor plumbing or electricity, but was said to have a 3 hole outhouse of "the finest construction." Before that the family had lived in a two-room adobe house.
In 1920, he was appointed to be Postmaster in Thatcher and served for fourteen years. During this period, his wife, Hazel, passed away on November 4, 1924. Her passing was a great sorrow to the family as she was only 40 years old.
In October, 1927, he married Lucrieta Milliron Altman, called Aunt Lou. They had a happy life for 37 years. This was during the depression years and they all worked hard raising gardens and doing other kinds of work to survive.
Orvil was very active in the LDS Church, serving as scoutmaster, with the youth, and in two stake missions for his church. He was a great sportsman and loved to attend all the games in the Gila Valley. He was described by his sister as "never afraid of anything, and real stubborn when he took a notion." He is mentioned in many newspaper articles during his lifetime, whether from his days on the BYA football team, being held up at the service station he worked at, or in the opinion sections where he argued his strong political opinions His intelligence and wit shine through both his poetry and his editorials. I enjoy reading both, as they remind me of my own grandfather- Orvil's namesake and grandson- who also had a gift for poetry and rhymes.
Orvil and his grandsons, Chuck in the middle (my grandpa) and some newspaper articles
Orvil with grandchildren
At the time of Orvil's death on September 23, 1958, he had four grandsons and twelve granddaughters, including my grandfather, Orvil (Chuck).
Hazel Kimball Larson was born on Augut 10, 1884, in Kaysville, Utah, to Thomas S. Kimball and Frances Williams. Hazel was brought to St. David, Arizona, in the fall of 1884. The family lived there for two years. The town of St. David was named after Hazel's grandfather, David Patton Kimball. They then moved to the Gila Valley, settling in Thatcher. Hazel had 6 children- 5 boys and one girl, and was a homemaker. Her daughter Elma mentions her mother singing lullabies and what a comfort she was. I haven't found a lot of information on what she was like, but hope to discover more. Unfortunately she died young, at the age of 40 of pulmonary edema. A contributing factor was the baby she was carrying, who also passed away. She left Orvil and her 6 children without a wife and mother, and I'm sure it was quite traumatic for them. Her daughter Elma described her death as a great shock.
There are some interesting tidbits from newspaper stories about mishaps and illnesses in the family- such as a bout of measles for all of the children, an incident witha letter knife to the eye of one of the babies, and another story about Hazel's horse being struck by lightning and killed as she was crossing a river in a buggy with her baby. The baby was unconscious for hours! Her only daughter Elma was also struck with polio at 18 months that left her with paralysis in her face. Life was certainly not easy in those times!
Orvil and Hazel's children were Lorenzo, Stanley K. George, Elma, Winston K., and Ernest J.
See Orvil and Hazel's profiles on family search website for more news articles, as well as poems that Orvil wrote.
