LIFE STORY OF ATLANTA BERG ZWAHLEN I, Atlanta Berg Zwahlen, was born 29 May 1896 in Grand Junction, Colorado to Carl and Martha Amalia Ungerman Berg. My parents later moved to Castle Dale, Emery County, Utah and I spent all of my childhood and young adulthood there. We lived in the upper North West part of town and I remember walking down to the lower South East part of town to visit my grandparents Henning Olsen Ungerman, Christine Mortensen Ungerman until they moved into a new home just a block south of us. Grandfather had two sisters who lived alone in a little house in the Southeast part of town and we used to walk down to see them. They always had something good to give us to eat. We called them Aunt Annie and Hannah, or "Tantie." She later came to live at our home after the death of Aunt Annie. My grandfather died January 4, 1904 and later my grandmother came to live with us too. The only place we had to be baptized was in the river, so when I was 8 years old on the 4 Sept. 1904 I walked with my father and several other men and children down to the river to be baptized. My father baptized me and Richard C. Miller confirmed me. I well remember the first house I went to school in. It was in the upstairs of what is now the Drs. Office in Castle Dale. Next I went to school in our Ward house. One class went up on the stage and one below and we had only the stage curtain between us. Next to a little school house which burned down one cold winter night, later to the new school and last to the Emery Stake Academy where I went only one year. When I was 10 years old (1906) my father was called on a mission to Denmark. There were six children in the family by now, one boy and five girls, and I was the oldest. My mother worked very hard to support us and I had two wonderful Uncles, John and Henning, who helped out with clothing and food. I remember one Christmas some of the older boys in town brought us a load of wood, but they had taken it from a neighbor who had it on his wagon; so he found out who did it, and made them take the wood back to his place. My father came home in 1908. Another baby girl came to join our family when I was 17 years old, so now there were 7 of us. Atlanta, Arnold, Vera, Leona, Mal, Cora and Uwin. The fourth of July and Christmas were very special days as we always got a new dress for each holiday. At the service on the 4th a blast of dynamite was set off and the band came around playing. We followed the band all around town and afterward had a program and picnic on the court house lawn and games and races for the children, and always a children's dance in the afternoon. It was on the 4th of July I saw my first car. At Christmas time we always got a new china head for our old doll bodies. These had holes in the breast and back part so they could be sewed onto the old body. We always got new doll clothes too. I had only one year of high school and 3 months at L.D.S Business College in Salt Lake City. My father was Co. Treasurer at the time and I went to work for him. We lived just over the fence from the Peter Tolboe family and their daughter Ruth and I were always such good friends, and loved each other very much. We did everything together. My father even built us a ladder over the fence so we could climb over and we spent many happy hours sitting in the shade of an apple tree just talking. We double dated together and were married about the same time. She wasn't to stay here very long as she died when her first baby was born. I have had many friends since, but none like Ruth. I went to work in the Emery Co. Bank in 1917 and worked there for 4 years. The Emery Stake Academy was the high school there, and in 1917 Samuel Zwahlen came from Ferron, Utah to go to school there. I met him and as we dated I learned to love him very much. He was drafted into the Army during the 1st World War in May 1918, so we were married in the Salt Lake Temple 8 May 1918. He was sent to Camp Fremont in California and I quit my job at the bank and went to Calif. to be with him as long as we could be together. In Oct. 1918 he was sent to Siberia and as the war ended in Nov. 11, 1918 he had just got over there, but he stayed there a year. The flu epidemic of 1918 was on when I came home and they needed some one to work in the bank again, so I went back there and stayed there until Jan. 1920. My husband came home in Oct. 1919 and our first baby was born July 14, 1920. a girl, 2 years later a boy, 2 years later a girl and 2
years later another girl and 5 years later another girl. They are Jean, Samuel, Shirley Ann, Drucilla and Ruth Kathryn. We lived in Castle Dale until April 1936 and then moved to Salt Lake. Here 2 more children were born to us, Carl John and Judy. On Feb. 22, 1940 my husband was hit by a car and died Feb. 27, 1940. This was a very hard thing for both me and the children to take, and we didn't have too much to get along on. The older children were old enough to help out and each one took his turn as they grew older, to earn money to help us out. I have a very wonderful family and they have always been so good to me and still are, even though 5 of them are married, and living all over the U.S. Sam and Judy are home with me. My children all graduated from high school and Carl from University of Utah. Sam was in 2nd World War and came home to us in safety and has been married and divorced twice. His life has been a little sad. Jean married John Clark Mitchell April 25, 1942. They have 10 children. Shirley Ann married James A. Gilbert March 7, 1945 in the Salt Lake temple. They have 4 children. Drucilla married Harry J. Nash April 25, 1947. They have 9 children. Sealed in Logan Temple 16 July 1953. Sam married Donna Rodgers 19 October 1947. They had 1 son, Stephen Samuel. They were later divorced. Ruth K. married Earl R. Ellefsen 10 April 1951 in the Salt Lake Temple. They have 4 children. Sam married Jo Ann I. Gardner 6 Feb. 1960. They had 1 daughter Susan. Later divorced. Carl married Goldie Gay Johnson Aug 3 1959. Endowed 18 Dec. 1964. They have 2 sons, Blair Randolph and Guy Carl. I have 30 grandchildren.