Austin Memories

Austin Gudmundsen Memories

The following was written in pencil on a legal sized scratch pad by Austin Gudmundsen Dec. 17, 1976. The original is in possession of grandson, Mark Richard Gudmundsen, of Oakhurst, California.

A repeat of a few personal experiences may be of interest.

On a previous recording I related how as a boy on a ranch in Wyoming, my life was definitely saved through the miracle of prayer. This has been an influence throughout all my life since. I shall never forget that terrible sub-zero blizzard that roared down the mountain, blinding and freezing me as I struggled to find the shelter of our camp wagon a half mile away. As I finally kneeled and prayed for deliverance, I instantly received a guiding force directing me through a maze of snow drifts, sage brush, and deep washes. Finally, I blindly stumbled over an obstruction in my path, making a loud clatter. Instantly there arose a chorus of dogs barking. I was home! I had stumbled over the wagon tongue of the invisible camp wagon. The herder, "Big John” quickly carried me inside and thawed me out.

After leaving Wyoming in the fall of 1913 we returned to Lehi, where father (Abraham Gudmundsen) again set up his jewelry business. It soon became evident that he could not support his family of ten. Competition was too great. The young jeweler, Earnest Webb, along with all the stores in Lehi set up jewelry departments. There were just too many fingers in the pie. The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company needed a man to manage the storehouse at the new Payson factory so we moved there in the fall of 1913 where we lived for several years.

I remember an incident in our moving to Payson. Brother Strasbourg of Lehi had a large hay-rack wagon. All our furniture was loaded on to it (there were no moving vans then). It took him two days to go from Lehi to Payson. Our cow was led by a rope attached to the wagon, and I followed the cow on my bike, prodding her to keep up. She didn't like it! As we arrived at the outskirts of Payson we encountered certain curious youngsters, then some larger kids, and finally we had a regular parade in this strange procession. Many of the curious ones were in my own age group and the kidding I got lasted for years. Incidentally, there was a sad ending to this cow episode. The first winter was very cold. She froze to death in her poor shelter. We had to buy milk at five cents per quart.

I worked at the Payson factory the first fall there - - twelve hours a day at $1.50 per day, seven days a week. We lived three miles from the factory. A covered wagon transported ten of us to and back, every cold, freezing day about an hour each way. This lasted four months every winter. When the campaign was over, I went to High School, having to “make up” for time spent in the factory. I worked hard and had the help of the instructors. This lasted for three years when we returned to Lehi again, I graduated from Lehi High School in l915.

I then attended the Rae Automobile School in Kansas City for six months. I returned to Lehi and set up a garage there. I did well in the summer, supporting myself for the first year at the University of Utah. In the meantime my folks had leased the Saratoga Hot Springs resort, which they ran for five years. I enrolled my second year at the University of Utah and enlisted in the U. S. Army Student Training Corp. We were housed at Fort Douglas during that terrible year of 19l7-l8 where hundreds of our boys died of the flu. After serving about eighty days I was honorably discharged from the SATC branch of the Army and sent home. I again registered at the University of Utah. Major academic credits were given me for my work at the Automobile School. In the fall of 1919 I went to California Institute of Technology, completing a year there, then back to U of U for my senior year.

In the meantime I had been seriously courting Myrl (Goodwin) these years. We kept company "seriously" during my school years and after her full time mission. We have been very happy all this time. We were married September l5, 192l in the Salt Lake Temple. I enrolled at the U of U as a senior. I was fortunate in securing employment on the faculty at the U of U as a math instructor. We lived in a nice apartment and did very well. We have been much in love all the years of our courtship and 55 years of marriage to date- 1976.

In 1950 my brother LeGrand and I were in his motor boat fishing on Mirror Lake, situated in the High Uinta mountains. We had been quite successful in catching some big ones. We noticed a boat some distance from us with a large man, his wife, and child. They didn’t seem to be enjoying the same experience as we had. So we went over to them and asked about their luck. It was as we supposed, they hadn’t caught any fish. We offered them two or three of ours. They were most grateful. I then introduced myself. "My name is Austin Gudmundsen" I said. A very peculiar look came over the gentleman’s face as he said "You won't believe this, but my name is Gudmund Austinsson!" He was from Iceland and on a mission to Hill Field (Air Force Base in Utah) for his government. We talked a while, but since I left for my home in California, I never met him again.

While residing in Milwaukee in the 1940’s - we saw a full page article in the Milwaukee Journal concerning an Icelandic settlement on Washington Island, a small island in Lake Michigan. We were very much interested in the article, so that weekend we went to Green Bay Wisconsin, took a ferry, and visited the Island.

We first went to the little hotel or inn to register for a room. To my amazement the man at the desk came toward me with his hand outstretched and welcomed "Mr. Gudmundsen" (me) to the island. I had never seen the man before. They were having a family gathering or reunion, and he was positive I was a relative. He took a large book from the shelf and showed me pictures and group photographs of Gudmundsen relatives. The Gudmundsen “look” was most predominant. Later he called others in and introduced us to his relatives. They treated us most graciously. We toured the island. Went and were invited into several homes. At the cemetery we saw many graves bearing the name Gudmundsen. One; Dr. Gudmundsen who was among the first settlers. We were not able to connect the families with ours at this point. But the family resemblance was most remarkable. Years later Fanny Gudmundsen Brunt, visited the island and spent some time trying to connect the families.