By Edna Ballew Patton

Edna Ballew Patton lived in Skull Valley from 1942 until 2002 and saw many changes over the years in that small community. She committed her memories to paper in the late 1990s, including the following excerpts. The complete memoirs may be read at sharlothallmuseum.org/archives along with many other historical submissions.

In Skull Valley, people used to get together and help each other. Thirty or more people gathered at Bill and Martha Overton's one Sunday and built a room onto their house. We built a tennis court at the school, shoveling sand by hand. It took several Sundays and a lot of beer! We got together and poured the cement for Barney and Annie's house (where Charlie and Diana Taylor live now). My son Daryl and his wife Shirley wanted a home, so Dave Jenner sold him a hill and Tommy Heatwole came and laid out the foundation. The men of the valley came and poured the cement and Tommy showed them how to lay the cement blocks. Shirley and I fed them lunch off the tailgate of the truck.

My husband Warren owned and operated the Skull Valley Service Station from 1953 until 1978. Once he brought a customer's car over to be serviced. He left it in the station driveway in park with the motor running.

When he got out, the gear slipped into reverse, causing the car to make big circles between the store and station. Warren finally got close enough to open the door and a young man was able to jump in and stop it. School had just gotten out and there were children watching. It was very frightening.

Mr. Schemmer, who was chief of the Smoki, asked me to catch snakes for them, so I went to the keeper of the snakes to learn how. He got a big bull snake out, laid it on the ground and picked it up behind its head without any trouble. I got so I could pick it up and from then on caught many snakes, which everyone soon knew. One day, some school children came into the Skull Valley Store where I was working and said there was a snake under a log in front of the store. I reached under the log and caught that little bull snake by the tail. There followed a snake dance that has never before or after been duplicated!

I started driving the elementary school bus in March of 1962. The bus was a 1955 Dodge. I never got stuck with that bus. In 1973, a new Chevrolet was bought. It had a big motor but our roads were so rough it was hard on the bus. It lost the tie-rods twice, two back wheels fell off, a front wheel fell off and I lost the power steering a time or two. My last year, I drove a new Chevrolet automatic. I was stuck four times with that one! In those 26 years, my son had to twice dip me out of a ditch with his backhoe.

The children on the bus were curious if I had any kids. I told them I had one little boy. They wanted to know who he was and where. I told them he was Shirley Ballew's husband. One boy, surprised, spoke up and said, "Why, he is an old man!" They were very curious about my age. Finally, one little girl said to me, "Mrs. 'Blue,' you're an old lady." Of course I asked why she thought this. She said, "Your face is wrinkled and your arms look funny." You know, by the time I got the children delivered and went home, I thought I was going to have to have help to get off the bus! It was all fun, and I did enjoy driving the bus and being with the children.

My husband, Warren, passed away in 1992. I later married Fred Patton who grew up in Skull Valley and ran the Bud Webb ranch for many years. My son Daryl still lives in Skull Valley and has an excavation business... "Cat Ballew."

Your stories and experiences are important. The public is welcome to submit articles for Days Past consideration. Please contact Scott Anderson at Sharlot Hall Museum Archives at 445-3122 for information.