Barnham, Myrtle Nissa (Heywood),(1915-2009) Auto Bio

(Wife of  contributor's first cousin once removed (Joseph Karl Heywood) .  At the time she wrote this, she was the Secretary of the Joseph Leland Heywood  Family Organization. Contributor:  Richard N. Heywood)

See also a Bio Sketch via Find A Grave

Myrtle Nissa Branham (Heywood) 1915-2009

               Like Nephi of old, I was born of goodly parents on 11 April 1915 in Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona.  The 8^th of 12 children born to Samuel Terry and Bertha Lee Pitts Branham.  My parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Thatcher, Arizona, on 19 March 1911.

               My earliest recollection is getting off the train in the little town of Nashville in Northern Wisconsin, in the spring of 1919, and my grandfather, Jackson Pitts, being there to meet us with his team and wagon.  Nashville was to be our new home.  It was here and in the nearby town of Crandon where I received most of my education, graduating from the Crandon High School.  My father purchased a general merchandise store in Nashville, shortly after moving there.  Later, he became postmaster and also operated a logging and sawmill business.

               When I was just past eight years of age, I had the shocking experience of seeing my father get his right arm cut off in the sawmill.  It came very close to taking his life, but he was truly blessed and was soon able to return to his family and resume the task of supporting his large family in spite of his handicap.  He was always a good provider and continued to provide well for his family.  Probably, partly due to this accident I spent many long hours in the store with my father helping him, or at least, feeling that I was being very helpful in wrapping packages and doing other little jobs.  Regardless, I learned to work at a very tender age.  By the time I was 14 I was his bookkeeper, keeping books for the store, sawmill and logging operations, under his direction.

I have often felt that I never really knew my wonderful mother until after I was grown as I spent most of my younger years with my father, when I was not in school.  In passing, I might mention that we are blessed in having this wonder mother still with us in her 90^th year.  She is alert and active, with a retentive memory and we are blessed indeed when we can have her in our home or visit with her in her home in St. George, Utah.

               It was in Northern Wisconsin that we enjoyed the association of may wonderful L.D.S missionaries, as they would visit our home each summer.  The nearest branch of the Church was over 200 miles from our home and the visits of the missionaries were highlights in our lives.  Here, too, I gained a testimony of the Gospel.  In the spring of 1938 a branch of the Church was organized just 25 miles from our home, which meant a great deal to us.  Twenty-five members in a 40-mile radius, but we soon had a modest chapel constructed, with the help of the Church.  In 1941 I was privileged to fill a short-term mission for the Church in the California Mission.

               During the years 1942-48 I worked in Wisconsin, Utah and Wyoming in the bookkeeping department for various businesses.  It was in Salt Lake City in 1945 that a friend introduced me to Mrs. Sarah G. Jacobs, a genealogist from Mesa, Arizona.  May events transpired through my association and correspondence with Mrs. Jacobs, as I was very desirous of learning how to do my own research work.  Finally, in the fall of 1948 I journeyed to Mesa, Arizona, and spent two wonderful months with Mrs. Jacobs in her apartment and in the Arizona Temple Library learning to do my genealogical research.  Needless to say, I owe a debt of gratitude to her.

To shorten a long story, in the fall of 1950 I went to work in the Arizona Temple as a clerk-typist.  The years working there were truly wonderful and one of the most difficult decisions of my life was made when I left there in March 1954 for ST. George, Utah, where my mother and I were to make our home.  “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform”, for it was in St. George in October 1955 that I was introduced to Joseph Karl Heywood, of Panguitch, Utah, and we were married in the St. George Temple 15 August 1956.  His first wife, Thelma Gardiner, had passed away 15 May 1954.  I had been privileged to know President David E. Heywood in Mesa, a man I admired very much, but little realized that one-day I would be a member of the Heywood family.  I am proud and happy to be Karl’s wife living in Panguitch, Utah, and a member of the wonderful Heywood clan.  I hope I can fulfill my term as Secretary-treas. Of the family Assoc. creditably and am looking forward to getting acquainted with more of the Heywood family.