The Life Of Lucille Erskine Westra Burgener

The Westra siblings knew her as "Grandma Burgener". Our dad's mother, she had remarried after Dad's father passed away before all but Scott had been born. She continued to live in the house Dad /Lamar had grown up in, on Grandview Circle. I remember there was always an ice cream bucket full of cookies on top of the fridge at her house. Sugar cookies, frosted eggs and chicks for Easter, trees for Christmas, chocolate chip other times during the year.  Grandma Lucille not only wrote a complete history for herself, but also for her husband (Biography of Joseph Westra). Grandma Lucille's typewritten history is scanned in on Family Search, but parts are faded and a little difficult to read. Here's a link to a re-typed document in its entirety and original format. 

The Life Of Lucille Erskine Westra Burgener ~ An Autobiography

I'll try to spotlight portions of Lucille's written words in smaller segments pertaining to upcoming topics/themes here on the blog. I've included a small life summary below which is based on her autobiography ...

Claude Arthur Erskine and Olive Laura Cushing were married June 18, 1907. They bought a home located at 831 Harrison Avenue. This was where they would live out their lives, and where their children would grow up. They had six children, five girls and one boy. Lucille was third. Mildred born Nov 9, 1908 died shortly after birth. Ruth was born January 2, 1910. Lucille arrived October 25, 1911. Maxine was born September 18, 1913, then Harold Claude, born February 28, 1915, and Shirley Laura, born July 11, 1934. 

Lucille wrote about many memories from her childhood ... a fire in the fireplace, Mother playing piano, Father fishing. Taking dinner to Grandma Cushing who lived on the next block. An old coal stove in the kitchen and heated flat irons to warm the beds in winter. One closet for the family to share. No car. No washing machine. Going to Liberty Park ... swimming in the summer, skating and sledding in the winter. 

School days included Emerson Elementary, Roosevelt Jr. High and graduation from East High school in 1929. Lucille then started working at her Uncle Hurd's law firm as a stenographer. She met Joe Westra on the streetcar on the way to work and they started dating in the Spring of 1930. They were engaged the following Christmas Eve (1931). Joe went on his mission to the Southern States from June 1932-June 1934. Lucille waited, and wrote, and continued to work and save for their marriage, which happened September 5th, 1935.

Lucille and Joe had four children, two boys and two girls. Joseph Lamar (5/28/1937), Sharon (9/16/1938), Diane (3/10/1943) and Steven (6/22/1946). Lucille's niece Janice came and lived with them for the 1942-1943 school year. Lucille had a miscarriage in 1945. They moved into the Grandview Circle home in 1949.

In 1953, Lucille and Joe finally got a belated honeymoon. Partially for Joe's work (a convention in Cleveland) they saw Niagra Falls and many of the church historical sites. Lucille started working again in 1958, a secretary for Granite School District. She worked there through 1973. 

Lucille had pleurisy and bronchitis as a child, and struggled with bleeding ulcers later in life. The family was in a rollover accident in 1962 that resulted in some serious injuries. A broken foot in 1969, arthritis starting in 1973, knee replacement in 1982, bronchitis again in 1985 and a broken nose in 1986. Joe had health issues as well; a ruptured appendix in 1945, and a blood clot after the operation. Hypertension in 1957, bleeding ulcers in 1959. He had his first heart attack in 1961. He had another in 1964 and his last one in 1965. He passed away on May 24. Lucille hadn't ever learned how to drive, but she took a class and got her license in 1965 when Joe got so sick. 

Lamar went on his mission to the Netherlands (9/1957 - 3/1960). Married in 1962. Sharon got married on June 27, 1957. Diane married in 1962. Steve was drafted into the army and left December 1965, he served in the finance department in Frankfurt Germany. He married Jan in 1972. Lucille remarried in 1968. She and Victor Burgener had many happy years together. She passed away on August 29, 1990.

Westra Christmas - The Previous Generation

When I started up the blog, one of the first things I got up as posts were the Christmas Letters over the years. What was recorded in Dropbox started in 1997 (were they sent out before that?) and copies of the next 23 years (to 2019) are included on the blog, showing how the families changed, and how the newsletters changed. But Lamar&Margie weren't the first Westras to send out annual newsletters, Grandma Lucille did too! I don't know if they were sent out every year, but I was able to find copies of two newsletters, and a few photos ...

• The top left photo was labeled 1950. The one on the right wasn't labeled ... but is likely 1950 too (definitely within a year one way or the other) judging by the ages. Steven was born in 1946, Diane in 1943, Sharon in 1938 ... that would put them about 4, 7, and 12. Dad/Lamar would have been 13 ... where was he? Maybe taking the photo?
• The bottom two photos are from 1962. This is another example of the B&W/Color photo phenomenon. Two pictures ... two different cameras? (Old-Fashioned Film&Photos).  Dad/Lamar is missing from the color photo, so I assume he's taking the picture there. He is in the black and white picture, but Grandpa Joe is the one missing (taking the picture) there.
• The pair of photos (below, between the two newsletters) feature Lucille and Steven ... 1964 in front of the Christmas tree, and just two years later, 1966, as Steven heads out to Germany (mentioned in the 1967 newsletter).
• The first newsletter is from 1967 - Joe passed away in 1965, so Lucille was on her own, although she had likely met Vic, as they married by November 1968
• The second newsletter is from 1972

Christmas Season 1967 News From the Westra Clan

Written by Lucille Westra 

• January: Sharon, Kent and children, Randy, Ricky and Alyson moved to 740 Park Lane, Pocatello, Idaho, where Kent is Branch Manager for National Cash Register.  Diane, Jon and children, Mauri and Brad moved into Sharon and Kent’s lovely home on Adams Street. Steve was home from Germany on a furlough and became engaged to Diana Wathen at Christmas time “66.” He left January 14 for Frankfurt, Germany, to finish his service. He was here a month and we surely enjoyed having him home. 
• March: I went to Pocatello to spend Easter with the Amanns. 
• April: On the 29th of April, Dora Jean Wathen gave a lovely announcement tea for her daughter, Diana, prior to her leaving for Frankfurt, Germany to be married to Steve. 
• May: On May 10, we all went down to the airport to see Diana off on her big trip. May 27, LaMar, Marge and boys, Scott and Chris arrived from Richland, Washington, to spend their vacation in Salt Lake. 
• June: On June 28, Steve and Diana were finally married by the German Court in Frankfurt, Germany. A big mixup on her birth certificate made her wait 49 days to be married. Steve’s cousin, Jim Dunlop and his wife Joyce witnessed the ceremony. They came from Fulda (?) Germany where he was in the service. 
• July: On July 7, Steve and Diana were married by Chaplain Madsen in an L.D.S. Ceremony. The people in their branch went all out to give them a lovely wedding supper and wedding cake and gifts. They were all very pleased. On July 4, I went on a trip to Big Springs, Wyoming with Sharon and Kent and family.
• August: On August 25 I visited LaMar, Marge and family in Richland, Washington. Celebrated little Chris’s first Birthday on September 5. While there LaMar and Marge made their decision to buy a beautiful new home at 726 Saint Street.
• September: In September, Diana and Steve took a wonderful five day trip to London and saw many interesting sights and took lots of pictures. – Their Honeymoon. September 19, Diana left Germany for home. While there she worked in the Finance Department of the Church, and got some good experience.  September 29: Steve arrived home to enter school at L.D.S. Business College, in Technology Computer. It is wonderful to have my son and his wife back from Europe, and know that his two years of service is behind him. They have a cute apartment at 2616 ½ East 21st South.
• November: On November 13 we celebrated little Brad's first birthday. His Dad won quite a few trophies in golf this 1967 season.

Wishing you all an exciting Christmas Season, with Happiness in the New Year. Lucille

News from Lucille and Vic Burgener and Our Families

1972 Christmas Season

• February: On the 1st, Steven married Jan Thompson. She had a son Mike who was 5 years old. Now Steve has a ready-made family. We welcome them into our fold. This brings our grandchildren to 17. The Steve Westras live at 1727 Roberta Street. He bought this home a year ago, and is still working for Christensen Diamond Products Co as a programmer.
• March: Randy Amann became an Eagle Scout. We went down to Provo for the ceremony. We are very proud of Randy.
• April: Randy is a motorcycle enthusiast, and he won a huge trophy in the Widow Maker's Climb at the Point of the Mountain. He has won numerous trophies and was featured in the Provo News with pictures and story.
• May: We went to visit the Blomquists in California over the Easter Holiday. It was a fun trip. We all had an exciting time at Disneyland. We also visited my sister Maxine in Los Angeles, and our sister and brother-in-law, Alice and Paul, in Las Vegas.
• June: LaMar and Marge and family came for their annual vacation and visited us for two weeks. While here, LaMar was offered a job with Univac. He accepted and they went back to Richland to settle their affairs and sell their home. Gladys Burgener came for June Conference and we had a nice visit with her.
• July: Jon won the City Parks Golf Tournament this year, with a $1000.00 prize and a beautiful trophy. We went on a vacation to Campfire Lodge, Montana, then to Yellowstone Park, and on the way home, spent three days at Lava Hot Springs, swimming and golfing.
• August: The Westras arrived to be permanent residents of Salt Lake again. They found a lovely new home at 1677 Hermitage Circle, and entered their children, Scott and Chris in Woodstock Elementary School, Granite School District. LaMar started his new job on August 21st. We feel really blessed to have our children back with us again after eight years.
• September: Diane and Jon bought a lovely home in Vernal. A split level, 3-bedroom home at 427 South and 4th West. They are enjoying being homeowners.
• October: Barbara and Eb flew to Salt Lake and visited us for a few days. They drove a new car back to California.
• November: Gladys, Ron, Shauna, and Lisa came from Renton, Washington for Thanksgiving. It is nice to have our family around us on these special occasions. 
• December: Eldon has two more quarters of school to become an accountant. He is hoping to find a good job and finish up after that at night. Karen has started a job in the Community Training Kitchen and will be under the Rehabilitation Program.

1972 - At Grandma Burgener's House

High School Achievements and Dreams ... in 1929

Grandma Lucille graduated from East High School in 1929.  I'm not sure who contributed this yearbook page to Family Search, but I'm SO glad they did. This is such a fun peek at both the people and the presentation ... including not only their name, but what their focus of study was ... this seemed to come from a specific list including Home Economics, English, Scientific, Commercial or Elective. Then it seems that each student was asked what they "endeavored" to do (definition: try hard to do or achieve something), what they "aspired" to (definition: direct one's hopes or ambitions toward achieving something) and then listing what they "specialized" in and telling a "talent" ...

So for Grandma, when she was a senior in high school ...

• Focus: Commercial
• Endeavor: To be another petite athletic star
• Aspires: To be a steno
• Specialize: In basketball
• Talent: Art

I had no idea Grandma was athletic and liked basketball! The steno part isn't a surprise, as she did work as a stenographer (definition: a person whose job is to transcribe speech in shorthand) for many years. 

While some of the answers appear to be serious, many of them from the other students featured on the page were silly and fun. Elva Eardley specializes in "an unobtrusive manner," Carl Erickson specializes "in nonchalant mannerisms" while Inez Elsmore specializes in "being enviously attractive." Marian Eberhardt aspires to own an orphans' home while Dave Edgehill hopes to write a hit song and Richard Elton wants to be an Army officer. Dave Edgehill's talent is "grooming his hair" and Richard Elton's talent is "eating sweets". 

So ... if YOU were put on the spot and asked these same questions, now or when you were a senior in high school. What do you endeavor to do? What are your aspirations? What do you specialize in and what is your talent? Future generations may be very interested in the answers!

Here's a few more pages from the 1926 East Yearbook ...