Milo’s Living Grandchildren (5 of 7): Rosetta Fern Andrus Woolf Gibb

This is the fifth in a seven part series highlighting Milo’s remaining living grandchildren. These profiles were written in 2006.

I am Rosetta Fern Andrus Woolf Gibb (Maragaret Ann Boyce), the fifth daughter of Benjamin Boyce Andrus and Lydia Rosetta French. I was born on December 10, 1918. Imagine dad and mom’s disappointment when they so wanted a son, to get a big gawky awkward daughter—daughter No. 5. But they loved me anyway. My only brother, Milo, was born two years later, followed by three more girls. Mom and dad were always proud of their daughters and said they could all work like boys.

Our family consisted of dad, mom, Grace, Nellie, Jacquetta, Gwen, Fern, Milo, Phyllis, Alice, and Beth.

I was born in Hill Spring, Alberta, Canada, and lived there for 80 years. I goy my schooling in Hill Spring up through grade 11 as that was all they had at the time. I always had to work and learned the value of work at a young age. Milking cows, feeding pigs, hoeing gardens, wrangling horses, stocking grain, picking berries, and topping beets was a way of life for me.

I had to work hard but I also had time to play. I played softball, basketball, went swimming, ice skating, sleigh riding, hiking, and horseback riding. There was a dance nearly every Friday night at the Church and we had lots of house parties. We didn’t need a car or $35-$50 for an evening entertainment. We could make some ice cream or stretch candy and have a good time with our friends.

Some of my friends included: Fay Tolman, Laree Leishman, Melva Lenz, June Herd, Ruth Haycock, and Mildred Wilkins. The boys we ran around with were Bert Gibb, Guy Allred, Ernie Meyers, Art Burton, Art Davies, Evan Harker, Glen Woolf and Curly Woolf, et al.

When I was 18, a “Big Bad Woolf” knocked at our door. His name was Andrew Homer Woolf and two years later we were married in the Cardston Alberta Temple on November 10, 1938. Homer was building a house on his 80-acres, which wasn’t livable yet so we lived with mom and dad for two weeks. When we moved into the house, it was my first home away from mom and dad. It wasn’t much, but we were happy, warm and well fed. Two years later I had a stillborn son, and two years later, Ronald Jay was born. Ten and a half years later, my little ground hog boy James Lonnie, was born, followed by Donna Faye in another two years. They were all a blessing to us.

In November 1970, Homer got really sick. About two weeks later we were told he had stomach cancer so was operated on. He was home the first week of December and stayed there until April 23, 1971, when he had to go back to the hospital. He was there until June 10, 1971, when the Lord in His mercy, called him home.  Mom had passed away four days earlier so now I was an orphan and a widow.

In 1979, I married Dean Gibb, my brother-in-law. He was a widower and I was a widow. It was great to be loved again. We’ve had many good times together, going to Fairmont Hot Springs, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Portland, White Rock, and places in between.

Starting in 1998, I suffered a number of mini strokes. Things were going quite well until March of 1999 when I had some major blockage in my left leg. An operation removed most of the calf muscle due to it being dead and infected. This was followed a few days later by a heart attack. In 28 days, I had four operations, a couple of strokes and a heart attack. I spent just over three months in hospitals before returning home. Home had moved to Cardston, first the Villa and then the Chinook Lodge. My legs continue to bother me still.

In January 2005, while spending time in the hospital to try and improve circulation in my legs, Dean got sick and was admitted to the same hospital. He died on January 29, 2005, at the age of 93.  I still continue to live at the Lodge along with my sisters Gwen and Phyllis. Our youngest sister, Beth, is the only other one still alive.

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Do you know Rosetta Fern Andrus Woolf Gibb? Are you related? Send us stories and pictures about her. What are your favorite memories? What impresses you most about her? Use the Comment fields below, or e-mail them to miloandrus.org@gmail.com.

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