Written by Beth Skeen Bitton
Blaine was born August 28, 1896 in Plain City, a son of Lyman Stoddard and Annie Skelton Skeen. Irene was born March 26, 1898 in Plain City, a daughter of John and Annie Poulsen Maw. Irene weighed 3 pounds and her twin sister weighed 3 1/2 pounds. Her sister later passed away. Mr. Allet, a neighbor built a wooden box large enough for both babies and it was used as an incubator.
Blane’s father was always dealing with horses so with Blaine being raised around them he became a great horseman himself. Stories have been told that Blaine rode horses when he was so small he legs would hardly reach across their back. They would buy horses in Idaho and ride them home. Blaine told that his father would put him on a horse in Idaho and tell him to follow the railroad tracks and he would find his way home.
Blaine loved to tease so one Halloween he and his friends took a calf and tied to to a doorknob of a house. When they knocked on the door the man tried to open it and the calf would pull back so he could not get the door open. The man became very angry but was not quite so upset when he saw it was the neighbor boys. He still loved to tease even when he got older. He went to his sister Jennie’s house and knocked on the front door. She came to the front door and by then he was knocking on the back door so she went to the back door and he did this a few times. She was yelling as she went back and forth inside the house and had no idea it was him.
Many have told that Blaine had the fastest horse and fanciest buggy, harnesses, robes, etc. To prove it he was always hunting a race with the people in Plain City and West Weber. One Saturday afternoon when Blaine and Irene were dating the were engaged in a little race and their buggy wheel went over the wheel of another buggy and locked. The roads were very narrow and hardly room for a wild buggy ride. Irene’s father was the Sheriff and when he came he sent Irene home. It didn’t seem to upset Blaine too much because as soon as they got untangled and got things fixed up he went to her home and picked her up again and they went on their way.
Whenever there was a parade in Ogden, J.G. Read would enter his eight white horses pulling a fancy coach and they would have Blaine drive them. It required good horsemanship to be able to drive that many horses at a time.
Blaine and Irene’s first date was one night when she took her younger sister to a show in Plain City and her sister fell asleep and Blaine carried her home. They didn’t really live that close to each other.
Irene told that her mother taught her how to mix bread when she was so short she had to stand on a chair.
Irene’s father took her to Lyman Skeen’s home to have a tooth pulled. He was not a dentist but pulled teeth for people. By the time he got ready, Irene had disappeared and they found her hiding under a bed.
When she was attending school at Weber Academy she would either drive the horse and buggy or ride the “Dummy” train. Often her father would load the buggy with produce and she delivered it to a Chinese man on Twelfth Street and he would peddle it around Ogden. She continued her education at BYU and majored in education.
At the time the Utah Power and Light Company was wiring the town of Plain City for electricity, four men stayed in their home. They first wired the town and then began wiring the houses. They hadn’t planned to connect any homes to the main line until all the homes were wired, but the working men found out it was Irene’s mother’s birthday and decided to surprise her with the first light in Plain City. They completed the hook-up, even installing the light globes, while the family was eating their evening meal on of the men slipped away and pushed the switch. Every room of the two-story house was lit up and outside lights were on. Her family gave her an electric washing machine.
Blaine and Irene were married February 6, 1918. Her parents were going to buy them a kitchen coal range for a wedding present. Blaine and Irene went to Ogden to pick out the one they wanted. She knew which one she liked best but it was the most expensive so she hesitated about getting it. It was time for the store to close so they went to the stable where the horse and buggy were and told the fellow in charge to bed the horse down for the night. They stayed in the hotel overnight and the next morning she bought the stove she wanted.
Blaine and Irene had a good life together and worked hard as everyone did because times were tough. At one time Blaine worked for his father-in-law. He would go with a team and feed several hundred head of cattle. Many times his lunch bucket and the food would be frozen. Later he farmed on his own for many years. He was helping with the Irrigation Company work and his horses got in quick sand. They kept sinking deeper and deeper. Another team was hooked on to this to help pull them out.
Their children are Arlene, Barbara (deceased), Lyman, Beth, Ronald, Beverly, and Garry.
Arlene adds the following to her parents story:
I am thankful to my grandparents for giving me my father, James Blaine Skeen, who was so kind and had so much patience with his family. I don’t remember my father ever being angry. I was afraid of the dark, so my father would walk me to the corner to meet a friend to go to Mutual. He stood at the back open window of the house or walk outside with me while I made my visit to the outhouse. When I was too young to have a boyfriend he would walk me to the dance hall and come and get me.
We didn’t have a phone so it was not unusual for a young man to come and ask if you could go to a movie. Mother would say “I think you can go.” When my father came in, he asked the young man who was with him. The young man would give a Plain City girl’s name and my father would say, “Arlene, I don’t want you to go.” I didn’t go.
When I was 17, Paul gave me a diamond ring. I showed it to my father and he thinking I was too young said, “Would you like to walk to North Ogden tonight or wait until morning?” I gave the ring back to Paul. He sold it to his boy friend who gave it to his girlfriend.
We all had a lot of respect for my father. When he spoke we did what he thought was best for us.
Mother was a wonderful cook and baker. When they celebrated the 17th of March and the young people gathered the pies and cakes to take to the church I am sure Mother’s never got there. I remember mother taking bread out of the oven. We would butter it, sprinkle sugar on top or dip it in ketchup or karl syrup. I remember some of the dresses mother made for me, lots of ribbon and lace. I am very proud to be a Skeen. I always sign my name Arlene S. Alvord.