Hearts Turned To: Remembrances of Atella Wiltbank Haws by Shelby Slade

Atella Wiltbank Haws in 1978

     I don't remember my great-grandma, Atella Wiltbank Haws, much.
     She was 96 when I was born. I was 5 when she died.
     I know my father always took me to visit her, but, in the way a child's mind works, I remember the titter-totter and the pig-nosed walnut shells in her yard more than I remember her.
     I think I remember her being fragile and quiet, but I can't be sure. On one visit she fished her teeth out and chattered them at me. I ran and hid my face in my pink fleece sweater.
     In the past couple of months I have been helping my dad transcribe some of her journals from the 70s and 90s. While I have done so I have discovered her true identity by trying to decipher her writing and restrain myself from punctuating her sentences.
     She was a strong, faithful, sturdy and genuinely lovely woman.
     She has become a personal hero I wish I could have known better in the few years our lives overlapped.
     Grandma loved learning. She began taking classes when Northland Pioneer College opened in Eagar in the late 70s. She consistently attended her ceramics class faithfully each week to make several "crude, little pots." She also took an institute class each semester. When my brain is stuffed with facts and figures, I try to apply her love of learning in my life.
     Grandma was strong, both spiritually and physically. While in her late 70s she continued to grow her large garden and would often spend a whole week in the spring preparing her yard for the new growth. She also experienced great struggles in her life, but her faith in God never weakened. Instead, in trials she positioned herself closer to Him through trust, prayer and scripture study. As trials fly at me I try to use her tactics and remain strong.
     Grandma was one of the most loving people I have known. She was constantly dedicating her life of service to others. She would use her talents and time to serve others. She visited people, made them quilts, magnified her duties and loved. This is one of her greatest characteristics that permeates her journals. It is the train that has touched me the most.
     Even though I was very young when Atella Wiltbank Haws died, that hasn't stopped me from getting to know her and becoming friends. As I have studied her life I have come to see the vibrant young woman, the caring mother and the guided servant of the Lord she was.
     I am closer to my great-grandmother than I ever would have imagined.

-Shelby Slade great-granddaughter

Shelby is daughter of David Slade who is a son of Dorothy Haws Slade who is a daughter of Atella Haws Wiltbank