Happy birthday, Dad. Today March 5th is dad’s
birthday he would be 99 years old. Born March 5th 1918 in Duchesne,
Utah the third child of David and Pearl Lee. He once told us his name was
chosen because he was born the day that the circuit court judge was in town, so it was court day.
His childhood was spent in Duchesne as normal as expected for a child of the
era. David Grant was homesteading land and keeping sheep. Dad attended school
only to the eighth grade; he then went to work with his dad herding sheep on
the family land.
When World War II broke Courtney joined the army and served
for the duration of the war. His war service included being a driver in the
Pacific Theatre, either driving officers back and forth or driving a large tank
truck to provide water for other service men.
At the end of the war dad returned to civilian life. By this
time his family had moved to Provo, Utah. It was in Provo that dad met Carol
Clark. Mom said he kept showing up drunk for their dates but he was nice so she
kept going out with him. Dad said as long as she said yes, he was going to keep
asking her out.
Dad and mom were married on June 6 1947 in the home of
Charles and Lucile Clark, mom’s parents. The newlyweds bought their first home
in Provo.
Early in 1949 dad joined with a couple of buddies to make
his fortune in Alaska. Jobs were plentiful and paid well, as well as an
opportunity to homestead land in the last frontier of America.
Not many weeks after arriving dad called home, told his wife he
had quit his job and needed money to get back home. Mom found out years later
that he had actually been fired from the job in Alaska. After returning from
Alaska dad got a job at the Tooele Army Depot and they lived in an upstairs
apartment in Tooele. Mom was pregnant by this time and was having a difficult
pregnancy so she went to live with her parents for a few months. Well dad could not live with out the love of his wife so he quit the job in Tooele and moved back to Provo. While dad was
in Alaska they had rented their home in Provo and the couple that was living
there would not move out. So they started a new home in North Orem and sold the
other one.
The new home was supposed to be ready by December but was
not ready to move into until early March, The home cost $7,200. And their
monthly payment was $37.50. I was born the same month they moved into the new
home. I have many memories of growing up in the home. After ten years in the
home they moved again to a home in the South end of Orem.
Dad worked at the automotive center at the Sears store in
Provo for several years. Money was tight and when they bought a new car dad had
to get a part time job to make the payments. He later started work at the
Geneva works of US Steel. It was at the Geneva plant that he worked until he
retired.
After dad retired Mom and Dad built a home in Spring City,
Utah and then a few years later they made their final move to Manti.
Dad worked hard all his life to provide for his family, he
always had a positive attitude and a song to sing. Most of his songs were his
old drinking songs, so none of us had ever heard them before. As kids we spent
most of our vacations camping. The farthest distance we ever went on a vacation
was to go camping in Mesa Verde National Monument. Some of my greatest family
memories took place on these many camping trips.
Dad died on December 5, 2003 and is buried in the Manti,
Utah cemetery.
Mom and dad were married fifty-six years and were the
parents of five: Jim, Dan, Allen, Jeff and Linda.
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