..

LIFE & TIMES OF REUBEN LORENZO HILL
   & MARY THERESA SNOW

Back to Reuben Hill & Mary Theresa Snow    See More Photos

International Congress of Biochemists

International Congress of Biochemists

Eyring home in Colonia Juarez. Click photo for full image

  In that summer of 1915 soon after Reuben’s graduation, the Minns, owners of the house in which they had lived for some fourteen months, returned, so that the Reuben L. Hill family were force to find new quarters. Having been disappointed in the job at Utah University, Reuben had accepted Dr. Simpson’s kind offer of an assistantship in his department. It paid a meager stipend, so Theresa decided to take over and care for a large rooming house on Dryden Road, thus paying their own rent as well as adding enough to the budget to make it possible to live without borrowing additional funds.    
    One day during the Christmas holidays, Dr. Simpson asked Reuben if he would like to represent the department at the International Congress of Biochemists along with Dr. Sumner, to be held in Boston the following week. Dr. Sumner, a native of Boston, was already in Boston but wanted Reuben, his friend, to read a paper at the meetings. Reuben decided it was a fine opportunity to visit the eastern cities. Knowing how much the whole family would enjoy the trip and making it much more enjoyable for him, he decided to use the money, some hundred dollars they had set aside to send home on the debt, for this golden opportunity.
    Besides becoming acquainted with the prominent Bostonians, the Sumner family of Civil War fame, Theresa, and the children were taken by their friend Dr. Sumner and his sister to all the places of early American history. Such places which up to that time were nothing but names in history and places on maps became real; Boston and Plymouth became real. It was definitely educational for Reuben to meet folk from European countries, people whose research he had touched by his work in their fields.

That hundred dollars went a long way, for besides paying fares for the family, it bought Reuben and Theresa a lovely suit each, and a nice overcoat for Reuben L. and a darling white Persian lamb outfit for Cornella. The Sumner family paid some on the latter for they fairly adored the little brown-eyed chatter box. The tears came to Theresa’s eyes when Miss Sumner brought in from the trying on rooms this small pixie, Nella.
    "Why Miss Sumner, where did you ever find such an adorable outfit?" There were no grandchildren at that time in the Sumner family, so the small Hills were the biggest attraction to these folks of Dr. Sumner.

  Emily Eying with Theresa & Bea after Emily's husband died tragically.
Click photo for full image

    It had been decided in planning the trip that they would return by way of New York, a city every westerner wishes to someday see. They were to take the boat from Boston instead of a train. Theresa, who always loved travel on the water, was as excited as the children as they waited at he wharf on the evening of sailing.
    "Mama, are we actually going to sleep all night on the ship? Will we be in New York when we awaken in the morning?" excitedly asked Reuben L. as he jumped up and down so eagerly waiting for the "all aboard" signal.
    Never were they to forget that first glimpse of New York’s skyline of skyscrapers, though both Reubens were to see it again and again in their later lives, the trip to the top of the Statue of Liberty, the trips on the omnibuses, the museums, the zoo, and the aquariums.
    As they walked up Fifth Avenue and spied Gimbles, a store from which Theresa had ordered articles by mail, she began counting the balance of their hundred dollars and decided to splurge for herself for once.
    When she came out dressed in a lovely broadcloth suit of turquoise blue with hat and gloves and purse to match, her husband’s glance told her that he was falling in love with her all over again. Never again was she to own anything she felt so well dressed in.
    The next day however, when they went to their own L.D.S. Church and for the first time in nearly four years partook of the sacrament, she forgot all about new clothes. She now thought only of the opportunity of making anew the covenants she had made in the waters of baptism and during the precious ordinances in the temple. They had attended Sunday School in Ithaca, but having no organized branch during their whole sojourn there, they had never had the right to have the sacrament administered.
    During their stay in New York they visited at the home of one of their roomers in New Jersey and as they sat looking from an upstairs bedroom window, they noticed a long train of hearses passing below them.
    "Reuben, what do you think is the meaning of such a parade of hearses?" asked Theresa.
    On inquiry from their friend, they learned that influenza had struck the city and folk were dying by the hundreds. Soon after they returned home they were stricken, but not with the virulent form for which they were very thankful.
    As Reuben had prophesied, Dr. Widstoe did answer his application for a job at the University of Utah with a contract to teach biochemistry in the Medical School there. Giving away most of their furniture to some of the new students just beginning their post graduate work and taking only a few good pieces, they left for Salt Lake City with bright hopes and light hearts.
    As the train wound through the great plains over high mountains and across the father of waters, it seemed to sing the song, "One the road to success at last, dear folks, on to success."
    They found that George, Reuben’s brother, had a job at the U.S.A.C. where Dr. Widstoe had been president before he took the presidency at the U. Beatrice, Theresa’s sister, had married and was now the proud mother of a dear little daughter.
    As luck would have it, Reuben L. came down with measles soon after they came to Salt Lake City, so Reuben and Theresa and their children were packed off to Springville to Reuben’s tiny bedroom on the old farm. As Theresa felt the burning forehead of her idolized son, she prayed earnestly for his recovery. She kept the big brown eyes covered with a dark cloth and anxiously fed him the medicine the doctor gave him.
    Reuben looked in one afternoon after returning from the post office. Seeing his dearest on her knees beside their son’s sickbed, anxiety expressed in every feature of her face, every move of her body, how could be tell her what was in the letter which lay in that inside pocket of his coat. Helping her to her feet, he as always spoke the reassurance his deep faith always gave to his words no matter what they might be.
    "Our little lad will be okay soon, I know he will. It was too bad we had to take him on that long ride in the car from Salt Lake, but your sister was frantic for she was sure Reuben L. had contracted scarlet fever. If we do the best we can, the Lord will do His. See, he is sleeping. Come lie down a few minutes. I have something I want you to read and discuss with you."
    The look on her husband’s face, though he tried ever so hard to hide it, sent a chill to Theresa’s heart. What more had they to go through? Seated in the old kitchen next to the bedroom, Theresa read the upsetting news.
    "Oh Reuben, they can’t do this to us a second time, can they? You have signed your contract. Don’t they have to stand by it?"
    "Yes my dear, I could make them stand by their contract, but when you see what hiring a Ph.D. man would do for the Medical School, would you want me to place them in such a position; all their graduates would have to have extra years of training. What prestige do you think that would give me in Utah or anywhere that references would be needed for a position?"
    "Oh I know, I know. I was just so disappointed, that is all."
    Reuben had many offers from schools outside the state of Utah, but its being so near to the commencement of the new school year, most all of them had been filled. So when he received an offer from the Bureau of Chemistry in Washington D.C. at $1250, he accepted immediately though it was $1000 less than the position at the University of Utah had been.
    Cornella, as was expected, came down with the measles and Theresa had her time and thoughts too much taken up with the care of the two small patients to worry much about their financial status for the time being.
    One evening after the children had passed the critical stages and were rapidly convalescing, Reuben and Theresa were discussing the coming trip to the nation’s capital.
    "It just seems as though our dear Lord has forgotten us these days, though I am ungrateful to say so when the children have recovered so wonderfully from this severe attack of measles. Do you know what I would like more than anything before we go to Washington? I have had a patriarchal blessing and so have you, but oh, I would like your father to give us each a blessing. I feel so in need of the comfort one can give in times of discouragement. They will help us see the future in a more objective manner."
    How true this statement was to be. Many was the time to come when the promises made gave the faith necessary to have prayers answered in which lives were to be saved.
    This job in Washington with such a meager salary seemed anything but an answer to their prayers, for how could anyone pay back even the interest on a debt let alone the principle. If they could have known what they knew some ten years later, they would have known that their Father in Heaven truly moved in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform, or rather his blessings to shower upon those who stay close to Him. This job given them in the nation’s capital was to be the key which would unlock the door to fame for Reuben and bring a joy and satisfaction to Theresa undreamed of before.
    As Grandpa Hill stood on the depot platform waving farewell, Theresa turned to Reuben seated beside her and said, "Your father looks like a prophet of old. As he pronounced those blessings on my head I felt like he spoke as truly as one of them."
    Just then, baby Cornella went white and Theresa rushed her to the dressing room where both she and the baby were destined to remain a good share of the trip. It was always a nightmare to even look back on.
    As the days brought their future home closer and closer, Theresa began to think of the chore ahead of them, hunting a place to rent. It was hard anytime, but many times harder because of the weakness she felt as a result of the constant sickness from the trip. Kneeling in her berth that night, Theresa prayed earnestly for help from the One who had so many times come to her aid.
    "Please dear Father, have a home waiting for us when we arrive in Washington. Have a bed ready for me on which to lay my weary head."
    In later years, they could laugh when they told the story of their arrival in Washington with only sixty-five cents in their pocketbook, making it impossible to use the help of the Red Caps. Reuben had to carry one huge suitcase under one arm while he carried one also in each hand, with Red Caps running from every direction wanting to help.
    How wonderfully sweet was the kind lady at the depot who took the children and some clean clothes for each while Theresa took a warm shower and changed from the smelly clothes into clean though wrinkled clothing. Seated in the waiting room, Theresa saw her dear husband coming toward her with a broad smile on his face.
    "Guess what, my dear, I just phoned your cousin Leah and she invited us to come right up to her apartment. And besides, she thinks she has an empty apartment that we can rent right close to hers."
    "But Reuben, I can’t go to Leah’s home looking like this," replied his sick young wife. Then quick as a flash, it seemed as though her grandmother spoke to her saying, "But Theresa, the Lord has answered your prayer and this is the way you receive it. Shame, my dear."
    "Oh Reuben," she said, "forgive me, my dear, we will go and I will make it up to her some way."
    Reuben’s face had looked so sad as she had refused, but now he picked up his load of suitcases and they were soon in an apartment all their own in the fashionable part of Washington North-West. In Leah’s own way, she had contracted for this apartment from a couple who were leaving for a month. How good this dear cousin looked and how much her love meant at this particular time.
    Leaving Theresa cuddled in between the nice cool sheets, Leah took the children to her own apartment and told Reuben she would care for them while he made arrangements about renting the apartment. With only sixty-five cents in their cash account, Reuben went immediately to the Bureau and procured a loan on his coming month’s salary.
    Theresa had declared she would sign no more notes, Reuben would have to procure money some other way. He felt rich indeed with half a month’s salary in his pocket to show his sweetheart. Small as the salary was, it was more than they had ever had at any one time in their married life. As Reuben sat beside her bed, Theresa warmly smiled at his exuberant spirits and promised him that small as it was, she would save enough to pay monthly some of the huge debts they owed.
    "Now Theresa, I hope it tastes as good as you think it will."
    "Reuben, you come in and sit down with the family. The children were so hungry, we didn’t stop to wait for you to return."
    Nothing ever had or ever will taste as good as that dinner did to that hungry and partly sick family on that hot sultry day in August, 1916.

This photograph was taken at the most tragic time in the family. Reuben, their beloved father and husband, had just passed away.
Back row, left to right: Ted, Spencer, Carl, Wesley.
Front row, left to right: Reuben Jr., Cornella, Theresa, Theresa Marie, Dick.
Click photo for full image

Top     See More Family Photos

Table of Contents

          COLLEGE ROOM AT BYU

DREAM OF PREMORTAL LIFE

          JOY OF PARENTHOOD

THE GRIM REAPER STRUCK EARLY IN THERESA’S LIFE

A HOME IN OLD MEXICO

MILLIE BACK AGAIN IN HER FATHER’S FAMILY

TESSIE’S FIRST ANSWER TO PRAYER

FEAR CONDITIONING EXPERIENCE

MOUNTAIN LION AND THE FORTY-ROOM CAVE

THE EVENTFUL YEAR OF 1897

FAMILY LIFE IN DUBLAN

DEATH AND RENEWAL OF LIFE

THERESA HERSELF, RESTORED TO HEALTH

GRADUATION AND TRAVEL

TEACHING

IN PROVO AT LAST

REUBEN TELLS HIS STORY

REUBEN TELLS OF A MOST SACRED EXPERIENCE

A VISIT WITH REUBEN’S MOTHER

THERESA AND REUBEN FULFIL PATRIARCHAL PROMISES

ENGAGEMENT AND FAREWELL

TRIALS IN UTAH AND MEXICO

REUBEN COMES TO MEXICO

THERESA AND REUBEN BECOME ONE

THE HONEYMOON

BIRTH OF THE FIRST BORN

FIRST EXPERIENCES IN ITHACA

HOME OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY

REUBEN MATRICULATES AT CORNELL

LIFE AT CORNELL

REUBEN MADE A MEMBER OF SIGMA ZI

GRADUATION

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF BIOCHEMISTS—JOB HUNTING

THERESA’S DREAM BECOMES REALITY

WORLD WAR ONE

A NEW JOB, A NEW HOME

EDUCATION IN THE HOME

THERESA IS HEALED AGAIN

REUBEN’S PLACE IN THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD

DEATH OF REUBEN’S FATHER

PRIMARY ORGANIZATION—ITS HELP IN SPIRITUAL GROWTH OF THE HILL FAMILY

THERESA AND REUBEN TAKE A TRIP, MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY GO THROUGH TRIBULATION AND HOW THE FAMILY MET THEM

OLDEST SON IN HIS TEENS

TEENAGERS AND THEIR PROBLEMS—CORNELLA’S MARRIAGE

PROBLEMS OF FAMILY LIFE—TED’S SERIOUS ILLNESS

MARRIAGE AND THE NEW GENERATION BEGINS

ADULT EDUCATION IN THE HILL HOME

PRIMARY VS. GENEALOGICAL ACTIVITY IN THERESA’S LIFE

MORE MARRIAGES? MORE EDUCATION

THERESA GOES TO WASHINGTON

WORLD WAR TWO AND ITS INTRUSION INTO THE HILL FAMILY

THE FAMILY IN THE CRITICAL YEARS OF 1943 TO 1945

BOYS COME MARCHING HOME AGAIN

BIRTH OF AN AUTHOR AND REBIRTH OF A DAUGHTER, DEATH OF A MOTHER

A WEDDING AND FOUR HILLS RECEIVE THEIR B.S. DEGREES

NEW TRIALS AND TRYOUTS IN THE HILL FAMILY

THE BIRDS LEAVE THE NEST EMPTY

THE LAST CHAPTER IN A WONDERFUL LIFE

POSTLUDE

Top