Oral History Program Lori Chambers Reeves Interviewed by Karla Chambers 13 July 1980 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Lori Chambers Reeves Interviewed by Karla Chambers 13 July 1980 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management University Archives All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Lori Chambers Reeves, an oral history by Karla Chambers, 13 July 1980, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Lori Chambers Reeves (b. 1956.) It was conducted in the family home on July 13, 1980. The interviewer is Karla Chambers. In this interview, Lori discusses her recollections and experiences growing up in a large Mormon family. KC: My name is Karla Chambers and I’m interviewing Lori Chambers Reeves on July 13, 1980 at 2660 North 450 East in North Ogden. We’ll be discussing life in a large family. Lori, thank you for coming. Would you please tell me your given name, where and when you were born? LR: Lori Chambers. I was born October 11, 1956 in Ogden, Utah. KC: Who are your parents and what can you tell me about them? LR: My dad is Lionel Chambers and my mom is Marva Hale Chambers. I remember being in algebra and I was having trouble with a problem, so I went and asked Dad about it. I started bawling because he explained it so different than the teacher. Sometimes I was afraid of him. As I got older I got closer to him. I always felt like I was close to Mom. I’d hear girls say they couldn’t get along with their mother and they hated her, but I never felt like that. I always felt like my mother was a special friend that I could talk to. KC: How many brothers and sisters did you have? LR: There were six boys and five girls. I was seventh. KC: Can you tell me something about each one? LR: I remember Linda always getting out of doing dishes because she was in college. Craig I remember playing basketball with the guys after dinner and getting out of 1 doing dishes. Lonnie, I wasn’t really close to until we both got married. I think I was closer to Rod as far as sharing things. Rod and I and Lorraine and Kelly were all in the back bedroom together. I remember being excited for school to start and Lorraine and I would sleep in our slips so we’d be ready to get our dresses on in the morning. KC: Anything about any of the others? LR: I remember Rodney when no one would let him sleep anywhere and he slept in the den upstairs. KC: What can you remember about your early childhood? LR: One girl told me I wet my pants in kindergarten. I remember being scared and so I’d sneak home. I didn’t want to go to kindergarten so Mom took me over to meet the principal at his house. He drew a stick figure and told me to draw one too. I didn’t want to because his was ugly. He said I should wait a year before starting school. I’m glad I did because I wasn’t ready. KC: How about your middle years in school? LR: I think my favorite year was ninth grade. I was on the volleyball team. Being a cheerleader was really fun and I enjoyed it. KC: Sports were important in the Chambers family. LR: It was always a family gathering when someone had a game. After dinner all the guys would go out to play and even Dad would go out and play. Whenever we went camping we had horseshoes or volleyball to play. KC: Did you ever get your own room? Or are there any specific memories about bedtime that you remember? 2 LR: I always took what was available. Laughter I guess I was in eighth or ninth grade before I got my own room. It was enjoyable to share, too. I liked having them there to talk to. I guess we probably shared our feelings more with each other than we did with Mom and Dad, because they were busy, but we always had a brother or sister to talk to. KC: What do you remember about meal time? LR: It was pretty hectic except on Sunday. Sunday we sat down together, but during the week, Lorraine and I would have volleyball and basketball practice so we’d eat when we got home. KC: Did your mom fix the food? LR: She cooked all the time. When we got older, I would fix the bread and peel the potatoes on Sunday. KC: How were chores handled? LR: Usually Saturday after piano lessons, Mom would have slips of paper. We could tell her what we wanted to do or draw slips of paper. I usually had to mop the floor and the guys would come in from playing outside and have dirty feet. I would get really mad at them and start crying. I used to cry a lot. I still do. KC: What were some of the family activities you liked to do? LR: We would go camping every year. I don’t remember us going out to shows or to dinner too much because Dad didn’t like to do that. I’ve noticed, since I got married, that Brad’s family goes out a lot. Mostly we’d stay home and watch TV or Dad would read the newspaper. Sometimes he read articles to us. 3 KC: I remember when you read a book about what should be done on Sundays and what you did to your family. Would you tell us about that? LR: I was reading a book by Ezra Taft Benson. In it, he said that on Sundays you shouldn’t watch TV or read the paper because it detracted from the spirit. We discussed it in family night and decided to give it a try. So that Sunday morning I took the paper and I hid it. Dad missed it and kept threatening me to give it back. KC: It seems like you decided to read scriptures in the morning, too. Were you the instigator of that? LR: We decided we’d get up at six thirty and read until seven. We could never get Lonnie out of bed. Rod was good about it and he’d help me get the others up. KC: What do you remember about holidays? LR: Christmas was our big celebration. We’d go up to Grandma Chambers and celebrate it with all of dad’s side. The kids would get gifts and the married ones would have a white elephant exchange. Birthdays, we always had at Grandma Chambers too. After everyone started getting married then we’d have a big breakfast up there in July and watch the parade. KC: Is there anything you remember especially about being at your grandparent’s house? LR: We used to always go up on Saturday morning for piano lessons from the lady down the road. Grandma would always have a bowl of candy and some cookies for us and we’d watch cartoons until it was our turn. KC: What is the greatest tragedy that you can remember? 4 LR: When Grandma Chambers passed away and they had to put Grandpa Chambers in the rest home. It was the first death that I had seen. It was hard to get used to not having her there. The saddest thing was the way it affected dad and his siblings. We used to go up and all get together, but I don’t think we’ve had a family gathering since she and Grandpa died. Mom’s family has always been spread out all over so we didn’t get to know them like we did Dad’s family. KC: What do you remember as the happiest time? LR: The happiest for me was when we moved here. Another was getting ready for vacation. KC: What would you say is the hardest part of being raised in a large family? LR: Sometimes it was hard to put up with the way a brother or sister liked to keep the room when we were sharing. I would get upset because they wouldn’t keep their side of the room clean. When I was cleaning the living room I’d get so mad that I’d take all their shoes and shirts that were in the living room and throw them out the front door. I’d get in trouble for that, but the living room looked good. KC: Would that have something to do with how you got your nickname? LR: Probably. KC: What was your nickname? LR: Tiger Lily. I got that when I pushed Gary in the bathroom and gave him a black eye. I think Reed was the one who gave me the name. KC: What is the best part of being in a large family? 5 LR: I think it would be gathering together on Sunday. Those that are married bring their kids. Just being all there. It made me proud in school when they asked how many were in my family. KC: How many children would you like to have? LR: I’d like a large family. 6