Spiritual Experiences had with Brother and Sister Woodbury as recorded on tape in 1963
C O N T E N T S OF SECTION 3 RECOLLECTIONS
By Heber and Vera Bishop 1
By Evelyn Morris 4
By Ravoe Craft 5
By Lillian Taylor 6
By Archie F. Barben family 8
By Clara Stewart 10
By Gertha Bishop 11
By Alma Western 12
Sample of Letter of Tribute 13
Luana Anderson 14
BY HEBER AND VERA BISHOP
The very first memories of Brother and Sister Woodbury 43 years ago are very dear to me. Long before Brother Woodbury was made Patriarch, we told him we thought he would be made our next Patriarch. He was such a wonderful man, so full of faith and lived so close to the Lord.
When Heber was shot in the hills, and lay up in the hospital for one week, we decided to take him to the Veterans Hospital. We wanted him to administer to him, so we took him and Brother Pratt up to the hospital to administer to Heber. Brother Pratt anointed him and Brother Woodbury sealed the anointing, and in the prayer he said, "Heber will return to your home and help raise your family and fulfill a mission you little dream of." We had ten children and practically no money. When he was in the hospital and they decided to amputate his leg, he turned to me and said, "I hate to leave you with a large family and no means to provide for them." I turned to him and said, "Heber, if that happens we will manage fine, but you are not going to die." He said, "You know what the Doctor said." I said, "Yes, and I also know what Brother Woodbury said in the hospital. He said you would recover and return home and help me raise your family and fulfill a mission you little dream of." He looked at me and said, "If Brother Woodbury said that, I will go home."
Heber was not expected to live, but he did, although his legs hurt him badly to this day.
Heber: A large crowd met us at the station. I was pretty weak and had to go back for my leg, but I had enough faith in what Brother Woodbury had told me that I knew I would be all right. We went to the temple later and prayed together for guidance. As I said Amen, the Lord took complete control of my mind and like a pounding in my head, I kept thinking, "You are to send your children on missions." I asked Vera what she was thinking of and she said, "You are to take your pension and send your children on missions." And I said, "Yes." As I said yes, we knew that that was what we were supposed to do.
Means came to us to send five out of ten children on missions. I got a job right away and we had means to support every one of them.
We found out in the Manti Temple that the mission Brother Woodbury was talking about was to send our children into the world to preach the Gospel and we do know that the Lord does speak through his prophets. He told me the money would come so that we could send our children on missions and we sent one right after another. Another thing, before Jay went on his mission, he had Brother Woodbury give him a health blessing. He told him he would speak to thousands, which was very unusual, as missionaries usually speak to small groups. Jay's mission was nearly completed and he wondered when the promise was going to be fulfilled. When he was down in Cottonwood, Arizona, the radio people asked them to take charge of the radio station and gave them 1/2 hour each noon to preach the Gospel. that was the only station there and people had to listen or turn it off, so in a way, the promise that had been made to him was fulfilled.
Vera: I would like to tell a little about the talks I've had with Brother Woodbury about his family. He loved his family very much, and he does have a wonderful family. He appreciated all the things they did for him. Each and every one of them in their own way. He didn't have any of his children on missions and he has talked to us so many times about our missionaries, always interested in them and in what they were doing, and he was very happy when Zola left for her mission and his grandsons also went on their missions, and those that were in the service doing a job or in school.
When Dean went to college in St. George, he was telling us about the things that happened to him. Each time that he made a success of something, he would come and tell us about it. We went to the Missionary Farewell testimonial for Dean and after the testimonial, the next day when we were talking about that meeting, we had so many people tell us that the things they said about Dean were true, and he had been a wonderful boy, and lived a wonderful life. Brother Woodbury said that he would do just as good a job in the mission field as he had done in his schoolwork.
Each and every one of the children has excelled in every little thing, he was so proud. When he went to visit Jennie and her family for three weeks, he came home and told us about them and what a wonderful family life they had, and how religious they all were and how they participated in the family night (I think they had family night while he was up there). He mentioned how Jennie took him around to all these places and he got to see relatives he hadn't seen for years. His brother Frank was in the hospital and she took him to see Frank about every day and Brother Woodbury appreciated it so much. He was always telling about the things Zola and her family did for him and he was so happy when Don and Mary and Vilda and Sherm went through the temple and became active in the church. He was so very happy. And then when Erma became active in the church, working in the Relief Society -- no one will ever know how these things made him so happy. He was thrilled with each little thing that they did that was working toward the work the Lord was involved in.
I have a letter here that I received yesterday from Mrs. Bert Adair. She was a very good friend of Brother Woodbury and she said in the letter "Brother Woodbury was such a wonderful man. It's sad he had to leave us. But it will bring so much happiness for him, we will never forget him."
Our girl in California married a Catholic and when we learned of it it took everything out of my life. It seemed the end of the world had come. I was ordered to Salt Lake for a goiter operation, and I was so ill I wanted to die. Finally Brother Woodbury gave me a blessing on fast day. I only told him about my goiter but when he gave me the blessing, he promised me that my goiter would disappear, but the rest of the time in my blessing he asked the Lord to bless me that all these things might leave me and I would have peace of mind and be able to do my work and carry on. Within a week my goiter was gone and from that day forward the terrible feeling I had, left me and I haven't had it any more.
When I was ordered to Salt Lake for a major operation, the doctor told me I had sugar really bad. Brother Woodbury administered to me and promised me that I would return to my home and the sugar would leave my body and right while they had their hands on my head, I felt the sugar leave my body as though a yoke had been lifted off my shoulders. I had a test again and there wasn't any sugar. They didn't give me one chance in 1000 because they had to do so much cutting, but Heber said he knew I would live because Brother Woodbury had promised me that I would come home and raise my family and I did.
My daughter, Dorthella, fell from her bicycle and hurt her leg. The water had gone out of her leg and the doctor said she would have to stay off of it or it would be stiff, and she would have to stay out of school. She said, "I cannot miss school. If you'll just have Brother Woodbury administer to me, I know my leg will get well." Brother Woodbury administered to her and the next morning her leg was healed and she returned to school. Another time she had a high fever with a disease the boys had brought back from the war. The doctor didn't come and she asked us again to call Brother Woodbury. He came and administered to her, and it wasn't any time at all till she was well again.
Clair had boils on his legs. The doctor wasn't able to help him. he was so nervous and he made a special trip down to be administered to by Brother Woodbury. Within a week they had all dried up and he has never had a boil since.
The morning of the accident, Brother Woodbury came to visit us as he did three or four times a week, and we did have a nice visit for about an hour and a half. When he got ready to go, he said, "I think I'll go over to Ted's and see if he will take me out to Sutherland to deliver a policy." I insisted that we would take him out and he said, "Oh, Heber never lets me put any gas in the car or anything and won't let me give him any money. He's gone so many times and done so much for me." I told him that as long as we had a car, I couldn't think of a better mission it could go on than to take him places he needed to go, and he was to go home and have his dinner and rest a while until we were ready to go. I had to go Relief Society teaching, so couldn't go and I was sorry, as we loved to take Brother Woodbury. He was always so appreciative of everything we did for him. He was one of the kindest men, and the most loving I have ever had the pleasure to meet.
Heber: When I went to get Brother Woodbury, he was asleep in his car. I just gave a little honk and he came and got in my car and when I told him Vera couldn't come, he was so sorry. We went up the street and when I came to the intersection, I stopped, then when I went to go I hit another car. The fellow I ran into told the Sheriff that I stopped. It didn't seem that we hit very hard--we backed up about six feet and then stopped. I asked Brother Woodbury if he was hurt, and he said, "I don't think so, but what about you?
I told him I was not hurt and felt fine, and that if he was hurt one bit, I would take him to the hospital. He insisted he wasn't hurt, but said, "Look at your new car, bent up like that." Paul Virgin took Brother Woodbury home so he could rest and shortly after Dr. Lyman checked him, looked at his leg, and told him he was all right.
Brother Woodbury called Vilda the next morning and said he had slept well, but when Vera heard about the situation, she went and got him, took him to the hospital, where Dr.Bird examined him and thought he ought to stay in the hospital for observation.
I'm thankful, though it does hurt me a lot, that he happened to be with us, that he was in the hospital where he had good care, and that later when he passed away, it was peacefully and quietly. I am thankful that I had Brother Woodbury with me. I got up and bore my testimony in Sacrament Meeting and said, "I am proud to think that I'm sitting by one of our patriarchs. We were protected, I know the Lord does watch over his servants and protect them. I know that he is rejoicing with his wife in the Spirit World.
Vera: When Brother Woodbury was ill and taken to the Fillmore Hospital the last time, he was bedfast and couldn't leave the room. A man by the name of Davis passed his door several times a day, and he found out that Brother Woodbury was a patriarch and what a wonderful man he was, and what a wonderful life he had lived. One day he went in and asked him to pray for him, and find out what was bothering him. He was able to be up and around, but something was heavy on his mind and was depressing him.
Brother Woodbury said he would be happy to pray for him, so he did for several nights, and finally when the man came in to talk to him, he told him that he had two sons that were dead, and they were waiting for their temple work to be done so they could go forward and do their work that they wanted to do for their family, and they wanted the Melchizedek Priesthood bestowed on them so they could accomplish the things they were supposed to do. This man was a complete stranger to Brother Woodbury, and he told him that he did have two sons that were dead and that as soon as he was able to leave the hospital, he would go to the Manti Temple and do the work for these boys that were dead.
Brother Woodbury bore his testimony to us that he really thought that the reason he had been taken to the Fillmore hospital was to be able to tell this man the things that were troubling his mind.
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BY EVELYN MORRIS
Charles had such a great love for humanity, never distrusting anyone but looking for the good qualities in everyone he met. He helped so many people. There, for instance, was Mrs. Miller. Before Mr. Miller died, he was sick a long time and Brother
Woodbury went down and helped them so much. He laid pipe to the corral, so she could water the stock more easily; he fed the rabbits, hauled coal and so many things. When Mr. Miller died, he continued to help her as long as she was here. When she moved to Florida, he tried to sell her house and furniture, going down often to check as no one lived in the house, and he worried about it.
Mrs. Miller sold me a bedroom set. I paid her $50.00 down and was supposed to pay her the rest in payments. One day a man came to my house and wanted to take the bedroom set away as he said she had mortgaged it along with the rest of her furniture. Brother Woodbury finally paid off the mortgage without an agreement with Mrs. Miller, but she did pay him back. The Church had $400.00 in interest in her house and it was not insured. Brother Woodbury went to them and asked them to insure it, to protect their interest. The Church refused, so Brother Woodbury insured it so she would be protected.
When we moved back to Hinckley, we moved into this place, which was a barracks. The winter of 1948 was bitter cold with lots of snow. We had no water and an outdoor toilet. We were out of coal and could not buy any without an advance order. Mr. Tanner had just delivered coal to Brother Woodbury. I went over to ask Mr. Tanner if he could sell me some coal. He said, "No, he could not." Brother Woodbury asked me if we were out of coal and when he found that we were, he ordered 8 tons delivered to our place, and since we could not pay for it, he paid and it took us about six months to repay him.
Brother Woodbury was always so kind and thoughtful to us and to everyone else who would let him be. He did so many nice things for us. He made a step, he fixed the light outside, so I could just turn it on. I doubt there is hardly a woman in town he hasn't fixed things for; he was always helping the widows and those in need.
Our family never fixed anything. we had a front step that was about to fall down. He said, "Is that step loose again?" And went home and got his hammer and fixed it, even though his breathing was real bad.
Every kid in town asked him to fix their bikes, trikes, and wagons, and he kept a supply of wheels and other parts and was ever willing and ready to help a kid. All the kids loved him and asked him to fix their things. When Eddie had his tonsils out, his ears hurt him when he swallowed. Finally, he said, "Mama, have Brother Woodbury come over and administer to me and I'll be all right. Brother Woodbury came and Eddie got relief and still remembers it and talks about it. We will miss Brother Woodbury very much.
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BY RAVOE CRAFT:
When we first moved to Hinckley about 19 years ago, Brother Woodbury made little sleds and little carts with wheels on and brought them to every one of my little boys. It was almost Christmas time.
When we first moved here, I wasn't very well. I had such a pain in my side. I went to Dr. Bird, and he told me he thought I had appendicitis. Then the pain moved over into my back and it hurt me so bad, I couldn't even stoop over. One morning, I thought, I can't stand it any longer. It was about 8 o'clock. So I thought, I'll go down and have Brother Woodbury give me a health blessing. I was in so much pain I could hardly walk down here. He gave me the most wonderful blessing I ever had in my life. He resealed every blessing I had ever had before. He repeated two or three sentences in the blessings I had received, before. I couldn't understand how he'd know that I'd had other blessings. I think he was really inspired in everything he said or did.
I think I was instantly healed for when I walked home I didn't have any pain any place and to this day my back hasn't hurt me at all.
My little grandson was down to our place. He needed to have his tonsils out and the Doctor thought he was getting a heart condition from his tonsils. So I brought him down to Brother Woodbury and he gave him a wonderful blessing and he prayed that the doctors would know the right things to do and he was healed, too. He had his tonsils out and the operation was a success.
When Edsel and Nola left their baby with me, he was about 2 years old. He got a bottle of household ammonia, I guess he thought it was a bottle of pop or something, and he took a swallow of it. I did what it said on the bottle then picked him up in my arms and brought him down to Brother Woodbury. He gave him a blessing and then took him to Dr. Bird and he was healed.
So many times Brother Woodbury would put the dams in so we could irrigate. A lot of times we wouldn't have been able to irrigate if he hadn't put the dams in so the water would come down to us. It just seems like he was a father to everybody.
Then every time he'd go to the post office, he'd always shake hands and always had such a cheery word for everybody even when he didn't feel good. I really don't believe we could have lived here if it hadn't been for Brother Woodbury. He's been so wonderful to us. Sometimes he'd come down to our place, and sit and visit, and I don't know who we could miss more than Brother Woodbury. It just seems like he's always there to do whatever needed to be done. We were happy to be able to help him a little by burning the weeds and helping clean up his place. So I hope we've helped him a little bit, too. Seems like wherever you go he's always got such a good word for everybody.
Whenever he's talked in Sunday School or meeting or given the prayer he'd give the most wonderful prayer.
One time his ward teaching companion couldn't go and Sister Woodbury came down with him and she told little stories and sang songs and Oh, I don't know when I've ever enjoyed anybody so much in my life as I did your father and mother.
Your mother and I were Relief Society partners for two years and she never would hand in a report unless it was 100%. If they weren't home, she and Brother Woodbury would go back until they found them home.
I know I was instantly healed when Brother Woodbury gave me that health blessing. I just stopped aching just that quick. I had gone to Dr. Bird and he gave me some kind of vitamin tablets and oh, they just made me so sick I could hardly breathe. I just know that I was healed instantly.
It seemed like your father was blessed with the gift of healing. But I can't understand how he'd even know that I had other blessings unless he was inspired by the Lord. And he mentioned two or three things that were in other blessings that others had given me.
He was always so thoughtful of everybody. If anybody new moved in, he'd always go and visit them right away and see how they were and if they needed anything. I know we've surely enjoyed him in our home. I've really enjoyed going Relief Society teaching with your mother. It just seems like she was blessed with a knowledge of the gospel and she always gave such a wonderful lesson.
Well, I guess they'll be happy. I guess that's about the only way they could be together.
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BY LILLIAN TAYLOR:
When Ralph was 8 years old, he and some others were having a snowball fight. Rose Knight ran a cream testing station in town near where they were playing. Two of the boys ran into the cream station, where a glass of sulfuric acid was sitting on the counter. Thinking it was water, one of them picked it up and as the other boys opened the door, he threw part of it at Ralph, missing him as they shut the door. The next time they opened the door, they threw the rest of it at Ralph hitting him in the left eye.
He came home screaming and we took him in the house and put some olive oil in his eye, and rushed him in to the doctor and by the time we got there it was as white as a poached egg. We took him to the doctor and he treated him and sent him home and he lay in shock for a couple of days. Then Doctor Bird told us if we could just keep him coming and not let his good eye sympathize with his bad eye, we could save his good eye but his one eye was gone.
We had him home for a couple of days and his good eye swelled up and began to get red and the lid swelled up and the side of his face turned red. Doctor Bird came down and said the good eye was sympathizing with the bad one. And he said, "You are going to have a blind boy. We can't do anything to help him, but if you want to get some tannic acid and put hot packs on it, OK, but he is going to be blind."
Grandmother Taylor came in and said, "If you don't mind I would like to go down and get Brother Woodbury to come and administer to him". So she did and he came right up. We all knelt around his bed and they administered to him. His father anointed him and Brother Woodbury sealed the anointing and gave him a blessing. He told him his sight would be restored and that he wouldn't be blind and the next morning all the swelling and darkness around his eye was gone.
When Doctor Bird came down, he said it was nothing short of a miracle, because his eye was gone or almost gone. We know that it was just through Brother Woodbury's faith that that boy has got his eyesight today. His vision is better than 100% and he has no eye trouble at all.
Our family and Grandmother and Grandfather Taylor have had so many healings. There is no doubt in my mind but that did more to strengthen my testimony than anything in the world. When Maude McDonald, my sister, was in the LDS Hospital, for an operation, I was in there with her. Your father was in there at the same time. We went in to see him and he looked more dead than alive. Then afterwards he was telling us that when they pushed him out in the hall figuring that he wasn't going to live, that he was going to die, he said that he visited the other side and told us he had seen Sadie Slaughter and her husband and Jim Blake and his wife and he named over several other people that he visited with. They told him his work wasn't finished and they weren't ready for him. Then he came back and he said the nurse came down the hall and he said, "I told her, 'You had just as well move me back in that room as I'm not going to die now. My work isn't finished here, yet'" He got better and came home and that was when his wife 's health failed. And he said, "I know that that was my mission; that my work wasn't completed--I was to come home and take care of my wife. And now that she's gone." he told us, "I'm just waiting. I feel that my mission is completed."
There was one lady that lived down at the trailer court, who wasn't even a member of the Church. She had such terrific headaches and oh, she had such a terrible time. She was afraid she had cancer. I got her to come down here one day, she didn't want to, but I talked to Brother Woodbury and he said to bring her down. He talked to her before and gave her a blessing. And she told him that she didn't belong to the Church, but those terrific headaches she had, she was afraid it was a cancer.
So he administered to her and when he took his hands off her head, it just felt like something pulled right out of her head, with his hands, she told us afterwards. I saw her up at Springville a couple of years ago and she said, "You know, I've never had a headache since. I've been converted to the Church and my son and daughter belong to the Church and we're just hoping and praying that my husband will soon be converted and become active in it." She wanted to know how he was and just couldn't praise him enough. She said she's been wanting to get down to see him, but it just seemed like she never could.
At the same time Ralph was so sick I had rheumatism and I was down for quite a while. I finally got up and around and I had mastoids. Money was just hard to get and mastoid operations cost three or four hundred dollars. That was a lot of money in those days. The Doctor said, "I'm afraid I've got to send you back and have an operation for mastoids on your ear." Brother Woodbury came up and administered to me and during the night the ear broke and instead of draining from the bottom, it drained from the top. The doctor said that never happened once in a thousand times. But it did, it broke and I had to lay with my head down so it could drain, but I didn't have to have a mastoid operation.
Oh, we just had so many of them in our home, like that. When Ralph was little he had measles and then got pneumonia, and we didn't think we were even going to pull him through. Your Dad came up and administered to him and he got better. He sure was a sick little guy, too. I'll tell you he's sure a wonderful fellow.
I just marveled at how happy he was, in spite of all his trouble, and his sickness and everything. I've never heard him complain. In all the time I've known him and I've known him ever since I was a child, I have never heard him complain in his life of anything.
Regardless and no matter what happened, I don't think he's ever complained. And I don't think there's a person that's been in as many homes. If ever there was a widow that needed a bridge fixed, or a step made or a gate hung or anything like that, he was the one that was down there doing it.
He was so good to Grandma Taylor. All the time that he took your mother to Relief Society, he'd always stop and pick up others along with her. He was so wonderful to her and grandpa. He's been in our home so many times to administer to members of our family. I just don't know what everybody's going to do without him. Just seemed like when anybody got sick, they just ran to brother Woodbury. There wasn't anybody else, no matter how many elders there were, it was always Brother Woodbury that they wanted and the life that he lived. I said there's two people that lived as nearly perfect a life as possible to live here--Charles Woodbury and Grandmother Taylor.
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BY ARCHIE F. BARBEN FAMILY
When our little daughter, Linda Kay Barben, was nearly three years of age (March 1943) she was playing with the other children one day, and they were romping around on the floor and Linda jumped from the davenport onto the floor where the others were. She gave a scream and started to cry. She said she had hurt her eye. She had a tiny pair of pointed scissors in her hand, she said the scissors had hurt her. The scissors were not mine and I have never seen them before in my life; we had no idea where they had come from.
I looked into her eye, but could not see any harm that had come to her. Just then Brother and Sister Woodbury came and knocked at the door. We let them in and were visiting with them, and Sister Woodbury looked at Linda and asked why the pretty little girl had been crying. I told her what had happened, and she took Linda on her lap and was loving her, and looked into her eye. She said, "Eddy, this child really has hurt her eye. She has stuck the point of the scissors into it." We all looked at the eye then and could see a tiny puncture in the cornea of the eye.
I left them here visiting and immediately took the child down to Dr. Bird. He looked at it and said we would have to rush her into Salt Lake City immediately, because she needed help very soon. He said, "If the fluid leaks out of the eye, she will become blind in both eyes." She needed an operation immediately. It was then about 3:30 P.M., and my husband Archie was home on crutches with a broken foot. But Dr. Bird made a telephone call to Dr. McHugh, an eye specialist in Salt Lake and told him what had happened and to stay open and wait for us. We would get there as soon as possible.
I came home and told Archie, we were terribly upset, but very grateful to Sister Woodbury for noticing the injury. I ran over and got our neighbor and his son to come and administer to Linda, as Brother and Sister Woodbury had gone home.
They gave her a blessing and anointed her, and we left for Salt Lake. The doctor was waiting for us when we arrived and gave Linda a shot of penicillin. He examined her good and decided to operate the next morning. We had to stay in Salt Lake a week and Linda had to have a shot of penicillin every two hours for the entire week. When Saturday came, the doctor told us we could take her home over Sunday, but to be back there Monday morning. He probably would have to remove her eye, and for us to be prepared for another operation. We were heartsick and very upset all the way home. But on the way home, we decided to take her over to Brother Woodbury for a blessing on Sunday.
We did this and he gave her a wonderful blessing and promised her that her eye would be fine, and she would see out of it again -- that the doctor in Salt Lake would see that a miracle had happened to her eye and he could not understand what had happened to it. He told her that her mission here on this earth required the sight of both eyes and that she would be blessed with good sight to live a wonderful and normal life. We felt good and very encouraged, but still in the back of our minds was the prospect that Dr. McHugh was intending to remove her injured eye Monday morning.
Monday morning early we took her back to Salt Lake City for the operation. The doctor examined her eye, then examined it again. Finally he took two or three steps backward and looked at us and said, "I just can't believe what has happened to this child's eye. I won't need to operate; it is going to be all right. You can take her home now, but come in occasionally for a check-up". We were so happy and grateful, and we knew what had happened to her eye.
We asked him if he was an L.D.S. man, and he said, "No." So we told him what we had done and the blessing that had been given to Linda Kay. We asked him how much our bill was, because we figured it would be several hundred dollars. Other people we had talked to told us the operation would be very expensive; they had a similar experience and their bill was very high. Linda Kay had had to have ether and a special nurse; so were prepared for a huge bill. Then Dr. McHugh said, "Your bill will be $25.00." We nearly fell over, but the doctor continued, "I recognize the hand of a greater power than mine in this case."
He was very happy for her and us, too, and he felt that he should not be paid for something he did not do. We knew that the blessing Brother Woodbury had given her was answered by the Lord immediately and that her injured eye was healed at that time.
Linda sees out of her eye and is studying hard in her third year of college. (October 1963). Linda Kay and we, her parents, are truly thankful and grateful to Brother Woodbury as a humble and faithful servant of the Lord, and thank him with all our hearts for the blessings we have received at his hands.
Linda Kay had her Patriarchal Blessing from Brother Woodbury Sept. 6, 1961. She enjoys it very much and was very glad she was able to get it from him while he was still able and giving blessings. She truly loves him.
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BY CLARA STEWART
Brother Woodbury used to come to our home. When I was first married, I had a real sick spell I had TB. He and Sister Woodbury would come over there and sing to me. They'd sing the songs of Zion to me and Brother Woodbury would administer to me. Many times he told me that I was the first one he'd had any experience administering to here. My TB settled in the bone and I had 42 abscesses on my foot and leg and at one time they were considering cutting off my leg, because they thought the bones were destroyed. He said "Don't you ever let them cut your leg off. No matter what they want to do, don't let them do it. The Lord will bless you and you'll be healed. And he told me once in a blessing (They had told me I must not have any more children,) that I would have sons and daughters. So I knew that I had to have more children, and yet the doctors had said, "Don't have any more or it will mean your life". I had only two little girls then. After that we had four daughters and five sons, or 11 children altogether.
Brother Woodbury was just always there to bless me and help me out whenever I needed help. All through the years, whenever I got sick I would come right down to Brother Woodbury. I felt like he could bless me and I would be healed.
One time I woke with blood running in my mouth. I thought, oh this horrible TB has come back again. I was having hemorrhages of the lungs so badly and that was the way it started in the beginning and then it went down into my foot and leg. He said, "When the doctors examine you in Salt Lake, they will find out that all of this has disappeared in your lungs and they are all healed.
Three different times I had to come to Brother Woodbury with my lungs bleeding just terribly, and he would bless me and all the burning and hot pain would stop and I would go back home and I would get well. As I wrote in my diary I would say, "Once more I have been down to Brother Woodbury and he has healed me, through my faith." I had such great faith in him. I don't know what I'll do without him. But I know that he's gone to his rich reward.
Since George has gone, he hasn't come back so much. He used to come and cheer him up with his harmonica music. He's surely been a blessing in my life. And George would come down and get blessed by Brother Woodbury. I said sometimes maybe we should call in our teachers without bothering Brother Woodbury so much. But that's where we had such great faith. During this last operation that I had just recently when they removed my lung I asked the doctors "What had caused this through the years. Is it that first TB?" They said, "Have you ever had TB? If you have had it, it's been healed by a miracle, because there's no sign of it in your lungs." It had been just completely healed. They said that nobody had ever had TB and their lungs were like this. It had all cleared up without scar tissue, of which you have none. So it's been healed up by a miracle. So it was just through my faith and Brother Woodbury and his blessing to me through the power of the Priesthood. Then I drank olive oil, sometimes I would drink six bottles of oil when I would have that hemorrhaging. I used to use oil for everything. I'd give it to the children and rub them with it but now they tell us not to use oil so they have destroyed my faith in oil.
I remember another faith promoting incident when your brother Don was run over and it looked like his life was hanging in the balance, and they came running over there to get George to help administer to him. They administered to him and he promised him that he wouldn't have any injury as a result of the accident --that is, permanent injury. I thought that was a miracle, and he was perfectly healed again. He was promised that his leg would be straight and he would never be crippled as a result of the accident.
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BY GERTHA BISHOP
With the passing of Patriarch Charles R. Woodbury, I feel I have lost a true devoted friend, as well as a spiritual guide and advisor. Although carrying the weight of many years and much illness, he was never too weary or too busy to stop to cheer, comfort, or aid in any way he could, those who needed him.
I never knew a man of more faith, stronger convictions or closer contact with the Lord and Savior. He often told me he had told the Lord how much this one or that one needed certain blessings and help, and that he knew the Lord would grant them, maybe not exactly as requested, but in a way best suited to that person's best good. Not only as applied to the immediate time, but also future benefits, & so many times in my own experience, this was true. Some things I thought were absolutely imperative at the time, and were not granted, as I asked, proved later to have been a great blessing in the light of later events.
He often made this statement. "Ask the Lord's help with your problems and worries, being sure you are as much in tune with the spirit of the Lord as you can be. Then don't worry anymore, just rest assured it will be taken care of in the Lord's due time. If you continue to worry and fret about them, you prove to the Lord you really do not trust and believe He will help you." What could be more true?
Many times he has told me of the miracles that have been performed in his home by the Lord through people of great faith coupled with his own, when he has administered to them. Surely, only a true servant of God could be an instrument in God's hands, to be able to help in such miracles, as the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the ill to be restored to health. Thus throughout his life, from early adulthood to his death, has he loved and served the Lord.
Within a year after we moved to Hinckley, I went to Brother Woodbury for a health blessing, and he not knowing I had been trained as a Swedish Masseur, said I had been given a mission in the Spirit World, where I would bring not only healing to the body, but comfort and strength to the mind and spirit. I would be entitled to inspiration and would receive the same, along with strength to perform the work required of me. I can truthfully say I have surely received help and inspiration as he promised. Who other than one in close accord with God could say these things, when at the time he said this I was really ill, and had been for many months before, at ever increasing intervals.
He was a great source of strength to me, with his wonderful faith and ever repeated prayers in my behalf. Only the evening before the auto accident prior to his death, he said, "Well, my good dear sweetheart is waiting for me, and I'm ready to go," as indeed he was. Would that we all could be as prepared to meet our maker and loved ones gone before as was our beloved friend, Brother Woodbury.
Now, I would like to tell an incident that Brother Woodbury repeated to me. He told me that he had had an experience the night before that he would never forget. He said it sounded as if there was something as large as a cat jumping off the table onto the floor and off the couch and he said the noise was terrific. Finally, after he had lain there until he couldn't stand it any more, he got up and took the flashlight and went all around the house to see if he could find a rat or a mouse making the noise. It sounded so loud. He said after he got up and looked around, it was gone and he didn't hear it anymore.
The next night it was repeated, only with more force, and it was really terrifying. When finally, the third night, it sounded as if the doors were closing and opening. He rebuked Satan and told him, "You've taken my wife from me so that I can't give blessings any more, and you've done everything you can to keep me from doing what I was sent here to do," and he said, "You can't do it. You leave me alone." Then he said everything quieted down. Then for about three or four nights there wasn't a thing. He didn't hear anything.
Then he awoke one night and he said, there was a crackling as if the whole building was being burned up. He had the flu at the time and was really weak, but he prayed that he would have strength to lift that ladder up to the south end of the house and climb up and put out the fire in the attic. He finally climbed up there and took his flashlight and looked around and there wasn't anything. He looked and flashed the light all around and there wasn't a spark or a thing.
This time he went back and really rebuked the evil spirits and told them to leave his home and never come back. To stay away from him and leave him alone, and let him perform the duties that the Lord had put him on the earth to do. He said he never heard another thing after that. He said he must have had the strength of half a dozen men to lift that ladder up there as soon as he did, as high as he did, when he was so ill. He couldn't have done it without the help of the Lord, but he just prayed that the Lord would help him and give him strength.
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BY ALMA WESTERN
This is Alma Western, a friend of Brother and Sister Woodbury's family. I've known them ever since they came to Hinckley. We've always been friends. I was their ward teacher for a long time, and connected with the family in different ways, going out with Brother Woodbury to administer to the sick and really enjoying his company, and always thought of him as a wonderful man. In the time when Brother Woodbury was in the hospital I was their ward teacher that year before and was able to be changed to another district. When Brother Woodbury came home from the hospital and they left me to take care of the family, bringing in the coal and doing their bidding, it was always a pleasure to be here helping the family and taking care of Brother and Sister Woodbury. I remember the time when Sister Woodbury became ill and received her stroke. She fell and cut her face quite badly. It was such faith in the family I got help and administered to her--sometimes as many as three times in one day. Such faith as two people had!
I've got a little paper that I'd like to read to the family giving the history of one or two things that I think is outstanding, and I begin with these words:
It is October 1963. To the children of Brother and Sister Woodbury, I am glad to be asked to take part in the services for Brother Woodbury. I received the best part in giving the closing prayer or dedication to the services. I am sorry the recorder failed for those words are lost, but there is still a lot that can be said. The life and memory of two people still lingers on, and the deeds of service and kindness shall live in the memories of those friends who knew them.
I know Brother Woodbury received inspiration from the Lord, which I can testify of. Let me mention one outstanding thing that happened when Robert Slaughter and wife lived in Hinckley. There came a couple seeking genealogy, and they were told about Brother Woodbury giving blessings, so they asked for a blessing, and in the course of their blessing they were told that there was a book with dust on its covers that would be handed to them.
The Slaughters & their friends went to Salt Lake to the archives without any luck and to the temple, to search for names. So on entering the temple, there was a session coming out and Brother and Sister Slaughter were introducing these friends to the people they knew, and one lady said, "What was the name again? and when she was told, she said, "I have a book at home with a lot of those names in it, and you can have it."
So when the book was delivered, this lady was wiping the dust from its cover. Now this is a testimony to me that can be told.
In my prayer I asked the Father in Heaven to let these services be a benediction to the life of Brother Woodbury.
Now, Children of Brother and Sister Woodbury, be true to the teachings of your parents. And I say these words with the respect we have for your father and mother, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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The following is an example of the hundreds of letters received through the many years of service to his fellowmen:
June 21, 1962
My dear friend, Brother Woodbury,
Just a note to tell you I received your letter yesterday and it was so nice to hear from you. I know it was a special effort for you to write to us. Thank you. I have written many letters in my mind to you since we came from your home this last trip. Your great humility and power is a very wonderful thing in our lives. You have helped all of us so very much, and so many times. I have come to love and appreciate you more than words can express.
Yes, my mother is so much better, she alone could know it was heaven's blessings that made the doctor marvel when he checked her. He thought it remarkable that her eye tests were so good when two clots of blood were behind one that had hemorrhaged yet he said it was better than normal and she could see as well as the college students he tested. The swelling has gone down and she is so greatly blessed in so many ways as a result of that blessing you gave us about April 4, 1962. I have a 12 year old daughter that has been ill with earache and a virus infection for three months, but she received spiritual advancement and has grown in the knowledge of the Gospel daily. We would appreciate it so much if you would pray for her.
We are doing some genealogy and know that is also the work of the Lord. May you always be uplifted and given peace during the absence from dear Sister Woodbury. What a glorious reward and joy in living she must now experience. May this knowledge help to strengthen you, my dear beloved friend.
I will always cherish the wonderful visit we had with you in April, and always try to live worthy of your friendship and the many grand promises you have given my husband and me individually as well as my mother and other members of our family.
Lovingly and with sincere appreciation,
Lessa Robbins
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LUANA ANDERSON
Luana Anderson had been sick all her life, never able to go to Sunday School or Primary or day school. She was very nervous and had palsy. Her parents heard of a new specialist and came to me to see what I thought about taking her to him. I told them it would be a good thing. I told them faith and works go together. They asked if they could bring her down and have her administered to before going. I said, "Yes".
They brought her down at ten o'clock on the morning of December 10, 1947. Her father anointed her and she sat perfectly quiet. Other times she was shaking all the time. This time she never moved. I sealed the anointing and she still sat there, perfect, like a statue.
After we finished, her father thought she had died. We sat over on the couch. The little girl didn't say anything or move for five minutes or longer. Then she got down and went and sat on her mother's lap and never said anything, and they got up and went home. That night the father and mother returned and said, "We had to come back and tell you of our experience:
"I noticed when we got home, Luana didn't say very much. Looking at her, I thought she looked better. I asked her if she felt any better and she answered, 'Oh, yes! Heavenly Father came down and took me up to heaven. When we got there, two men came out of a building. He said, 'I'm your Heavenly Father. This is Jesus and this is Joseph Smith.' Heavenly Father introduced her as Luana. She said they talked for some time. Then they said, 'Live a good, clean life and you'll be a missionary all your life.' She said they were wearing white clothing and they had a light shine out from them, so bright it hurt her eyes. They were all quite large men, especially the Prophet Joseph Smith. She commented on how good looking the Prophet was. 'Jesus,' she said, 'talked with a dialect,' and it was hard for her to understand Him."
After talking with her for some time, they called Mary. She asked who Mary was. He said she was Jesus' mother. She described Mary as being a small woman. 'Mary', they said, 'this is Luana', Mary, with a group of angels, took Luana by the hand and showed her around. she saw a Temple, a beautiful building of gold. They then took her to a school that was yellow brick, as she described it. She saw one room with all girls in it and one with all boys. She went into a room with all girls in it. A young girl who had never married was teaching the class. A little girl was reading so fast, and well. As Luana stepped up, the little girl turned so quickly and said, 'Who are you?' I am Luana,' she replied. 'Who are you?' 'I am Joyce.' Joyce was the little girl who had died. Joyce was wearing a red and white skirt and a white blouse with long sleeves.
"As they went on, she came to her Grandmother Anderson and another lady, sewing for an angel, as she called it. Luana said they had a machine similar to an electric machine, but it didn't have to be guided. Grandma smiled and spoke to her. Someone that Grandma called 'Helen' was watering flowers there. Luana said, 'They are so much prettier there than here. They are all ruffled and doubled.' Heavenly Father showed her some daffodils he had raised Himself. No one was to touch them, but they could the others. She said she saw a lot of missionaries, soldiers, and every one was busy. She saw one boy angel in particular, but she didn't know who he was. She said while she was talking to Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Prophet, she saw some dark animal curled up asleep and she was frightened. They took her by the hand and said, 'Don't be frightened. We'll take care of you.'
"Luana said they left her and went into a building for a few minutes. While she was there, Satan came peeking around the corner and tried to get into her body and get her to go into the Temple, but she turned and pulled a face at him, she said. Then Heavenly Father came out of the building and Satan ran as fast as he could.
"The streets were all gold and the trees had gold and silver leaves on them. She saw a beautiful tree that had no leaves on it but was covered with pink flowers. She said after seeing all these things Mary came and took her by the hand and said, 'Come Luana, let us go,' and brought her back.
The next morning Luana asked her father what his father's mother looked like. He said, 'She's a short, heavy-set woman.' Luana asked, 'Did she have a pug nose?' He said, 'Yes'. She said, 'Well, I saw her, too."
"In talking with Brother Woodbury, he said he felt impressed during the administration to rebuke any power of Satan to enter her body. He said when he felt impressed to rebuke this power, it must have been when he was trying to get into her body. We all felt a rich outpouring of the spirit that day. We feel that this vision and testimony was given to us as a comfort and assurance that our Heavenly Father is with her."
Since this experience happened, this girl's spirit leaving her body and returning, she has been normal. She's been able to go to Sunday School, Primary, and day school and now she's in high school, and a wonderful girl since that experience.
Her parents wanted her to know about what I thought of it. I told them, "This is a day that girl will never forget. She knows that people live after they leave this earth because she saw her sister and both her grandmothers, and the Prophet Joseph smith and the Savior and Heavenly Father."
In talking to her recently, I asked if she remembered that day, and she said, "Yes, that's a day I will never forget as long as I live."
This testimony is given to show that people live on after they leave this earth. This was Luana Anderson from Sutherland.
Now, when I am typing this from the tape, I have just returned from Hinckley. Dad told me Luana was going to B.Y.U. to school and she sent a lovely sympathy card after Mother passed away on March 13, 1962.
Today is April 4, 1962. Signed by Jennie May Woodbury Lee.
This document entered into computer by the daughter of Jennie May Woodbury Lee and James Horald Lee---Jennie May Lee Adam May 3, 1994.
