EARLY EXPERIENCES AT SUNDAY SCHOOL

I often think about the people that have had the most influence in my life. The reason I think about them is because they all had very different personalities, but each one had a way to get my attention and teach me something important. Lately, I have had some experiences that reminded me of my junior Sunday school leader and teacher who included me in an older class of kids.

After finishing medical school and two years of residency in general surgery, my father moved his family to Pocatello, Idaho and set up a private medical practice as a general practitioner and general surgeon.

I was in the second grade at Washington elementary school and we went to church at the Caldwell Park,14th ward, LDS Building.. Our Primary or junior Sunday School leader was a woman named Edie Bell. Edie was an extraordinary individual to say the least. She had flaming red hair, weighed less than some of us, and could only walk with the use of two crutches under her arms. She had been stricken with polio as a very young girl and was sent to Primary Children’s Hospital. She eventually came home, but had been terribly crippled and spent the rest of her life using leg braces and crutches to walk. She also had a deep love for the children in the community and thought she was the most fortunate person in the world because she was able to work with the children in Primary at church.

I was one of the unruly kids in junior Sunday School, but my father told Edie if she had any trouble with me, to come get him and he would straighten me out. She never did send for him though. If I was causing a problem, she would just float over to me and tell me how glad she was to have me there and how much potential she thought she saw in me. That usually confused me long enough for her to finish what she was trying to do in opening exercises.

Once during a Sunday School class, the teacher became so frustrated with me that she ordered me to leave and not ever come back. That was fine with me, so I left and headed down the hall. Edie saw me walk past her class room and was in the hall with her crutches before I got another four steps. She called me back, said she heard my teacher yell at me, and asked me where I was going? I told her I was going outside because I didn’t have to go to Sunday School any more. She said she heard my teacher tell me not to come back, but she was worried that my father might get upset if he knew I wasn’t attending Sunday School anymore and invited me to come to her class on Sunday so I wouldn’t get in trouble with my dad. I had to admit I hadn’t thought that far ahead and she had a good point, but I. protested a little because her class was older than me. She reassured me that although they were older, they were just as noisy as I was, and I would fit in just fine. Her teaching style was unique. She didn’t spend much time getting after us if we became restless or started to whisper. She knew each of us well enough that depending on who was starting to fidget or talk, she would throw something into the lesson that got that particular student’s attention and got them participating in an acceptable manner. In my case we discussed the use of horses and their part in the plan of salvation. I had never thought about whether I could have a horse in the next life until I met and talked to Edie Bell, but she liked the idea, so I do too. I don’t think I ever heard her yell at any of us. I have always wondered if for some reason she couldn’t yell very loud.