Note: This is part of a continuing series documenting memories of longtime Tooele County residents.

I was born Jan. 13, 1926, to Willard George Atkin, Sr. and Lydia Ethel Tuttle, in our family home, 26 S. First West St. I was the 10th of 11 of my father's children.

Our half-acre downtown home was nearly self-sustaining. There was a big garden that provided beans, beets, corn, peas and tomatoes. These grew during the summer and then we bottled them for winter use.

There was also a large area for fruit trees. These trees provided cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, prunes and apples.

We also had room between the large home and the back fence for chickens, pigs, cows and a horse or two.

My father also owned a farm south of the town. This property was bought and is now where the Tooele Ordinance Depot stands. However, back then it was planted with wheat, which was taken to the Lehi Roller Mills for flour and also for grain for the animals.

During the Great Depres-sion, I cannot remember ever being without food. The only deprivation was when the milk cow would have a calf and go dry for a while. The cow not only provided milk for the family, but also cream for butter and cottage cheese.

I walked about a block north to the Central schoolhouse. This was new the year I started first grade. I graduated from Tooele High School in 1944, the year World War II ended.

After graduating from high school I worked at the hometown newspaper, the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin. I worked there for about three years while earning money to go to college.

I attended Brigham Young University from 1946 to 1949, when I met and married Hollis Scott. He was offered a job at the Transcript-Bulletin as the assistant editor and advertising manager of the paper. He worked there for several years before moving our family to Orem.

We had two children, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Hollis passed away in December 2005.

compiled by Abby Palmer