History: Lavetta Cluff Lunt Taylor

Of our four grandparents, Grandma Taylor is the only one who lived long enough that some of us remember her. Dying at age 91, she was known and loved by not only her children and grandchildren, but by her great-grandchildren as well.

LaVetta was born on January 3, 1902in Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua. She was the 9th of 13 children, eleven of which lived to adulthood. Garcia was a small town in a beautiful little valley in the Sierra Madre Mountains. She was born in an unfinished four room lumber home. Though the house was small and poorly furnished, it was rich in love and happiness. The children were taught to work, to share, and to live the gospel. She said that they were not allowed to quarrel or fight.

Music played an important role in the family. Before breakfast the family would gather around the fireplace to sing a hymn and read a scripture before family prayer. Parents and children had good voices, and sang in harmony. Because they were such a large family, it made for quite a choir.

On a beautiful summer Sabbath during Sunday School, word came that they were to leave for the United States early the next morning because of the Mexican Revolution. They traveled as fast as they could down the rough mountain roads and caught a train to El Paso in Pearson (Mata Ortiz). They were on the train all day and all night, fearful that the rebels might waylay them. In El Paso they were taken out to a large lumberyard where they lived in improvised shelters. They were crowded into the shelters like animals, but each family had a small section to call their own. They hung up quilts or blankets for a little privacy. Each morning two or three officers would take them out for a march up and down the street for exercise. People would come by and peek through the fence at them because some had been told that the Mormons had horns. However, basically they were treated well, and some of the local businesses supplied them with food and other basic needs. After two weeks the family went to Pima, Arizona, where they had relatives. They lived there in a large two-story brick home which had been built by their Grandfather Weech. LaVetta’s father went to work logging in Bluewater, New Mexico, and there he became ill (probably appendicitis) and died, leaving two wives and 14 unmarried children.

LaVetta graduated from the 8th grade in the Pima District School, then was invited to go to Colonia Juarez to attend high school and live with her married sister, Maud Farnsworth. She very much enjoyed her first summer there, and made many friends. On Sunday afternoons the young people would often meet together to play games and sing songs. It was on one of those occasions that LaVetta first met Clarence Lunt. He was from Pacheco, but was living in Colonia Juarez while he attended high school. When school started, he began sitting by LaVetta in the school assemblies, which thrilled her. He was handsome, popular, admired, and six years older than she was.

After her first year of high school, LaVetta returned to Colonia Garcia, where she had spent her childhood. She enjoyed her visit immensely, and the people of Garcia talked her into staying to teach school that winter. She was only 16, had completed only one year of high school, and had no training, but she agreed to do her best.

The people of Pacheco and Garcia celebrated the 24th of July together that summer, and Clarence invited her to go to the dance with him. That winter Clarence made frequent visits to Garcia, and often she went to Pacheco with him. Clarence proposed to LaVetta on New Year’s Eve of 1918. She answered yes with a kiss, their very first!

After the school year ended, LaVetta traveled to Pima, where she worked to save money for her trousseau. In the later part of March she and Clarence traveled from Pima to Salt Lake to be married in the temple there on April 2, 1920. After their marriage, they traveled in Utah and Arizona for about a month before returning to Mexico to live with Clarence’s mother and brother, Alma in a three room adobe house.

Shortly after they were married, Clarence was called to be bishop of the Pacheco ward. He was 24 years old, and, the bishop’s wife was still in her teens!

Within 3 ½ years, LaVetta had given birth to three daughters, Marza, Maurine and Ora. Three years later she was expecting again. She was more miserable with this pregnancy, and had a hard time getting her work done. Clarence felt he should take her to Colonia Juarez to have the baby, so on June 7th, 1927, they and their three little girls drove to Colonia Juarez, stopping to repair a few flat tires on the way. That night, LaVetta went into labor, and delivered 15 ½ lbs. of baby, an 8 lb.boy and a 7 ½ lb.girl. No wonder it had been a difficult pregnancy!

In 1929, the family moved to El Paso for a year. It was a good experience, but the children were happy to move back to Pacheco, where two more baby girls, LuDean and Sylvia, joined the family before the long-awaited second son, Clarence Gary, was born. Such a large family made for a lot of work, but LaVetta was a good organizer, and the children learned early to do their share of the work.

When Marza was old enough to go to high school, she moved to Colonia Juarez and lived in a boarding house there. Clarence knew that as the children became old enough for high school, they would need to move to Colonia Juarez, so he bought a house there.

In January of 1939, another little boy was born to the family: Robert Berkley.

With her father’s permission, Maurine had stayed out of high school that year. What a blessing that turned out to be! LaVetta had needed help with the work during her pregnancy, and shortly after the birth of the baby, Clarence became ill. In spite of priesthood blessings and prayer circles, his condition worsened.

When his brothers heard of his illness they came to Pacheco and took him out to the States to see a doctor. It was learned that he had inoperable cancer, and on April 29th, he died, leaving LaVetta with nine children between the age of 19 and six months.
The next years were lonely and difficult. The family moved to Colonia Juarez so that the children could attend high school. People in the community were kind and generous, but money was scarce.

In December of 1943, LaVetta married Loren Taylor. She was 41 and he was 55 years old. Their marriage combined two large families, as he had six children and she had nine. Some of the older children were married or on missions, but nine active young children moved into the large Taylor home in Colonia Dublan.

Grandma and “Uncle Loren” were good parents and grandparents to the next generation, which came quickly and abundantly. Uncle Loren once attributed the success of their “merger” to two practices: paying tithing and having regular family prayers. Their posterity has been strong in the faith that meant so much to both parents, and the legacy of service, particularly to the people of Latin America, goes on.

Grandmother was widowed again in 1968. Two years later she moved to Mesa, Arizona, where she enjoyed her family and worked in the temple. During the later years of her life she began having health problems, partly due to osteoporosis. She lived by turn with most of her children, before dying at Aunt Ora’s home in Dublan. During the last few years of her life she seemed to live somewhat in the past. She dreamed of having babies. She worried about attending church meetings, and being on time. She was concerned that all visitors have something to eat. These had among the most important concerns of her life, and her mind continued to dwell on them.

Her funeral services were lovely, and she looked beautiful and so at peace. Her burial was in the small cemetery in Virden, New Mexico, beside Clarence.

Grandmother seems the epitome of the woman written of in Proverbs 31:10-29: “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safe trust in her…She worketh willingly with her hands….she riseth also while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household…her candle goeth not out by night…she stretcheth out her hand to the poor…she is not afraid of the snow..for all her household are clothed with scarlet…she maketh herself coverings of tapestry…strength and honour are her clothing..she openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness…she looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.