I graduated from 8th grade and that same year we moved into Sugar City where we could attend high school and later, Ricks Academy. We enjoyed life very much in Sugar City. I was very active in the church serving in the Deacon and Teacher Presidencies.

The Wilding family lived on a neighboring farm and my sister, Merle, married Ellis Wilding. At that time, I started dating Ellis' sister, Leone. Once while courting Leone, I took another girl to a dance. On the way home, we fell asleep. The horse we always used with the buggy was used to going to the Wilding house. So it went there and stopped until Mr. Wilding woke to do his chores. He told us we better be gone before Leone woke up.

Leone and I were married 29 May 1918 in the Salt lake City Temple by Alvin F. Smith.

That same year, we moved to Chapin in the Teton Basin next to my folks. This was a bad one as it was a very cold winter and a flu epidemic broke out. Many people died. Mother, Dad and all my brothers and sisters fell ill. Norma and I were not living at home. Norma had been at the Academy studying to be a nurse. She cared for all the family and I helped all I could with the chores. We dug graves where we could get through the frozen ground. Sometimes we had to bury the dead in the deep snow banks until Spring. Merle's husband, Ellis, died leaving her with two small children. The rest of the family, with the blessing of the Lord, survived. That same year, World War I broke out and several of the younger boys went to war.

We lived in Chapin for about eight years where our first four children were born: Elmo Thomas, 4 July 1920; Della Leone, 28 September 1921, Ben Leo, 23 June 1924, Joel Sterling 15 March 1926. While living there, I held positions at different times as counselor in the Bishopric, scoutmaster (being one of the first in Idaho), Ward Clerk, and others. At that time the church would have farmers serve Winter Missions for three months. In 1920, the year Elmo was born, I was called to serve one of these missions. This was hard for Leone an a new baby being left alone in winter. 

Ducks and geese were plentiful in the Basin and I was able to kill enough to make a full feather tic. I believe it took about 300 birds.

In my Patriarchal Blessing, I was told I would have power to control the elements and heal the sick. The last year we were in the Basin, the crops were about ready to be harvested and a storm was moving in over the mountains. I knew if it hit, our crops would be ruined. I prayed to my Father in Heaven, with every fiber of my being. The storm split and left my fields to be harvested. We were the only ones to harvest crops.                                                     (google image)

Later that year, we sold out and moved to Chance, Montana where our youngest son Hart was born. The weather was very bad and we were snowed in. We had to deliver him without the doctor present. The Lord was with us again and he was born healthy and strong on __ ______ 1927. While in Montana, I served as the Mutual President. While we were in Belfrey, we had a big snow, a couple of feet and then it rained and froze hard. There were thousands of wild horses in the plains. The men in the area knew the horse would starve with no way of breaking through the ice, so we rounded them up to load them on train cars. I counted more than 7,000 wild horses. There was more than a four mile solid string of horses. The mares would foal on the trail and just have to leave them behind. Many horses were saved by the town people.

The family of Leo Thomas and Lizzie Leone Wilding Grover:

Elmo, Ben, J., H.,

Leone, B., M.,

Leo and Lizzie

"Throughout my lifetime, I have built many homes and cabins and enjoyed my carpentry work. I played guitar in a dance band during the 1940's."

"In 1962 while living in Gooding, Leone and I were called to serve as caretakers for the Gooding Stake Camp at Alturas lake where there were several cabins (one for each ward) and a large lodge with a comfortable caretaker's cabin. We had several family gatherings and a special reunion with brothers and sisters and children while we were there."

Photos of family at Leo'-s Funeral

Lizzie Leone, at the funeral of her husband Leo Thomas Grover. Sitting with her sister Aunt Vera.

Other photos are of other family members at the funeral.

Cemetery Pictures of Leo Thomas Grover's Funeral

Leo was buried in Sugar City, Madison County, Idaho on 20 Sep 1982.

Four Generations with Joeleen, Sumner, Gramma Lizzie, and Benita.

Lizzie Leone's Funeral Program