Life Sketch of Lillie Holm Brinley

Little Holm was born in Ammon, Idaho on January 14, 1915 to Carl Otto and Viktorina Holm. She grew up as a youngster in this rural area on a large farm. She was next to the youngest of 7 living children all born in the Church. She learned early to work both inside the house and out in the fields and barns. She was closest to her younger brother, Carl, and her older sister, Vivian. All the children were bilingual in Swedish and English.
She went to grade and high school in Ammon, being a very good student all her years. In high school she was among the better students, had an excellent voice and sang in the school choirs. She was also athletic and played on the girl’s basketball team, which in those days wore the long, black bloomers. She related well among her peers, although she was very shy and often blushed, which was a characteristic that often embarrassed her. She was active in the Church. She commuted to school by bus as the house was about 3 miles from school. In the severe winters she came to school many times by sled which path led through the fields and cut fences.
In 1932 she met one of her teachers there, Eldon D. Brinley, during the spring semester. On June 19, 1933 she was endowed and married to him. They both attended the University of Utah that summer, where she took German and homemaking. The couple moved to Soda Springs, Idaho in September of that year (1933) where her husband was the coach and manual training teacher, and she was a housewife. The last half of the summer was spent in Los Angeles at Southern Cal. In September of 1934 they moved to Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah where Eldon was Director of Athletics at Snow College. On Sept. 30, 1934 in the LDS Hospital, Idaho Falls, their first daughter, Dawna Melene, was born. She went up and stayed with her folks during this period. Dawna was named so because she was born at dawn.
On July 12, 1936, LaNea Darle was born in Brigham City, Box Elder County hospital. She was staying with her sister, Hilda, at the time. LaNea is a small, beautiful flower found in Sweden. This was a beautiful, precocious, and wonderful daughter. At 4 months as she lay in her basket, she recognized her daddy’s footsteps coming in the house, and would jump up and down in her crib and yell excitedly. She developed a cold about the first of December which developed into meningitis and she passed away on the 12th of December, 1936, on her fifth month birthday. When we woke up in the morning she was in a hot sweat, her temperature rose to about 107 degree and she died at about 9:30 a.m. with the doctor there. We tried to hold her with prayer but when the doctor told us she would probably not be normal after these high fevers, we gave her up willingly and she went directly to the spirit world. LaNea was buried in the Pleasant Grove, Utah cemetery.
On August 6, 1939, the first boy, Douglas Eldon was born in the home, with Dr. Anderson and Eldon assisting with the birth. Olive came down and stayed in Ephraim during this time, and on one occasion saved his life when the infant was chocking on some phlegm.
In June of 1941, the couple left for New York where Eldon planned to complete a doctorate at New York University. He had a sabbatical leave from Snow College. They had previously attended Brigham Young University, Utah State College, and Chicago University besides the University of Southern California, where he completed his Master’s Degree. While residing in Ephraim, Lillie completed her beautician course in Provo and set up a beauty shop in her home for several years. They even traded milk and other products for beauty work.
When they arrived in New York, he found employment at several places, while Lillie found work in various beauty shops. They first lived in Jackson Heights, Long Island where she worked. Then they moved to Great Neck, further out on the island. She worked for a Mr. Fox in Great Neck for some time, and for a Swedish lady further out. Eldon completed his degree in the summer of 1943, and his Navy commission came through on Dec. 12, 1943. He was off to the wars early in 1944, and Lillie and the kids moved from a large, beautiful dutch style home on Spruce street, to a two family apartment over a laundry on Cutter Mill Road. He was Superintendent of Recreation of Great Neck when he left for the service, and had taught the previous year at Montclair, New Jersey in the State Teachers College there. He commuted home each weekend, but lived in Montclair during the week, where he worked two nights a week at Montclair YMCA. The previous year he worked at Brooklyn Central. From Great Neck, he went into the service, first at Princeton University, then to Samson Naval Base in Geneva, N.Y. and then overseas in 1945. In the meantime, Lillie kept the two children and worked in beauty shops. At one time she drove cars for a Plymouth automobile company in Great Neck during a short period when she lost a job. She had the car, learned to drive New York well, and went everywhere.
In May of 1946 Eldon came into San Francisco from overseas and the family drove west to meet him. After some visits they drove back to New York. Eldon went from his job in recreation, reserved for him due to the war, to the University of Pittsburg. The couple then moved to Kingsville in September of 1946, where he was employed at A&I College. Here they were to spend the next 10 years.
In 1948 the couple set up a Spudnut Shop, where they made doughnuts, and had a café connected therewith. Lillie got a job at Trant Dress and Beauty Shop across the street and worked there part time while she kept an eye on the shop. She and Mrs. Trant became fast friends, and she used to go to market in Dallas twice a year with her. There was no Mormon church in the area, but one Mexican one in Corpus Christi, 40 miles north. We attended this weekly for awhile, but not understanding the language, we cut it down to once a month, then once a year. We attended the Methodist Church in Kingsville until the new Navy base was reactivated and then there was started a small branch. The kids were brought up in the Church for the most part. Life proved quite eventful in this small college down. The town was 8500 when the moved there, was growing quite rapidly. They bought a beautiful home there and remodeled it some. The home is still at 807 West Alice, the street having changed form Gross Avenue.
On January 27, 1951, Dawna married a young telephone technician, John Ancel Kirk, in Lawton, Oklahoma. He had just gone into the service and Dawna joined him there. From there they went to Alabama, St. Louis and finally moved to Kingsville in 1954, where she and Johnny lived with Eldon and Mary Alice for 2 years. They had 1 child who died in infancy, and then three others came along, Ronald Jay, Russel Ray, and Kimberly Kay. Johnny Kirk killed himself in 1958, and Dawna later married Harold Garnell Jones. She lived in New Orleans until Katrina forced her out where she now lives in Utah caring for the home of Doug’s oldest son David..
Lillie was divorced from Eldon on March 1, 1955 in Logan, Utah. She contacted Bullen & Olson in December of 1954, filed a complaint on January 7, 1955, and the hearing was set for February 21, 1955. She was awarded $200 alimony until Doug was 21 years of age, and court and lawyer costs.
She later married Bevis Register in 1956 and they moved to Kingsville, Texas where they both ran the Trant Beauty Shop. They later moved back to Logan and were divorced around 1963. She later married Ron Wills and they moved to Las Vega, and it was there that she became ill with ALS the summer of 1974. She had surgery in Salt Lake in August of that year to allow her to eat through a tube in her side. She grew weaker slowly and finally died in Ogden, Utah on March 11, 1975, and was interred in Fielding Cemetery near Shelly, Idaho on March 15, 1975. A beautiful service was held in the Hall Mortuary Chapel in Logan, Utah where her family and friends paid their last respects. During her illness, her sisters Vivian, Olive, and Hilda took turns taking care of her in their homes and did everything humanly possible to make her comfortable. Doug visited her regularly from Provo, Utah where he was teaching and attending Brigham Young University.
Lillie Holm was a beautiful girl. She had a talented voice and sang alto in her early years. In New York she took lessons and found she had a soprano voice. She related well with her peers. She was well liked by everyone. She never complained, never gossiped, and seemed to take life’s problems in stride. She was talented, intelligent, and looked on the positive side of life. She loved her children, and ministered to her husband when he was around. She made friends easily, and sometimes people had a tendency to take advantage of her soft heart. She was shy and blushed easily. She could forgive easily, and accepted life as it was. She was never a troublemaker, but got along with everyone. She was a hard worker and willing to do her share. She was clean, and always dressed well in public. She died with a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Written by Eldon Brinley, 5/4/75; edits by Doug).