Children of Mahonri and Harriet Decker (Florence's Siblings)

Fae Decker Dix

Fae and Nancy

On July 21, 1906, Harriet gave birth to her first child, a daughter. Her brother Charley (on the Norris side) suggested they name the baby Fae, after a mining town in Nevada. Fae was 14 when the family returned to Parowan from Delta, and she felt the shame of the family situation keenly. Still, she was very active in school and the community, acting in the high school plays and writing for the local paper. She graduated as valedictorian in 1925 and went on to BAC in Cedar for college, where she edited the yearbook and was an active member of her sorority. She was 21 when her mother died. During her college years she traveled a bit, and like many of the young people in the area, she spent a summer working at Bryce.

After college, Fae taught fourth grade in Parowan for a time. She married Cleo Dix in May 1929 after quite a lengthy courtship. They settled in Cedar City and raised two children, David and Nancy. Cleo worked as a mail carrier for nearly 30 years, but his great passion was journalism. For years he worked as a freelance journalist, covering much of southern Utah for the Salt Lake Tribune.

When their first child, David, was about one year old, Fae contracted tuberculosis. She was quite sick for several years and spent a fair amount of time in the hospital. For years afterward, Fae worked extensively with the Utah Lung Association and American Lung Association, receiving special recognition for that service in 1980 in an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. In addition to her work with the Utah and American Lung Associations, both Fae and Cleo devoted much of their energy to the community, promoting culture and education wherever they lived.

In 1956, President Daryl Chase brought Cleo to Logan for a job as an editor at Utah State, and the Dixes felt like they were moving up in the world. Just a few years later, however, Cleo developed a brain tumor. He died in 1961 in Salt Lake City.

Following Cleo’s death, Fae earned a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Utah in 1964, at the age of 58. She worked as Associate Director of Women’s Programs in the Division of Continuing Education at the university until her retirement. She was a prolific historian and writer throughout her life but most particularly following her retirement. In fact, it was in her later years that Fae won several awards for her writing. In addition, much of the Decker family history that survives comes from Fae’s pen.

Despite her many talents, Fae suffered from a low self esteem. She could be melancholy and dramatic, frequently self-deprecating. Still, she lived a rich life and enjoyed many intriguing friends, including professor and philanthropist O.C. Tanner and his wife, as well as the historian Juanita Brooks. She passed away in 2002 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was living with her daughter.

Relationship with Florence: Fae was 5 when Florence was born, and they remained close throughout Florence’s life. Florence lived with Fae while she attended BAC, and they both lived in Cedar City for the remainder of Florence’s life. After Florence’s death, Fae continued her close relationship with her nieces and nephews.

Blanche Decker Latker

Blanche

Blanche was MM and Harriet’s second daughter, born on her father’s birthday: August 7, 1908. She led an interesting, though not particularly happy, life. Like the rest of the family, 12-year old Blanche felt the lasting sting of the Delta debacle. In addition to the upheaval of the moves to Delta and back and the shame of the poverty, it was Blanche who held her baby brother Homer as he died.

Despite her frustration with Parowan life, Blanche was active throughout her school years: writing for the newspaper and participating in drama, student government and debate. She stayed home the year after graduation to care for her mother and then spent the summer of 1927 working for her Aunt Anna in California before returning to Parowan for her mother’s final months.

Shortly after Harriet’s death, Blanche moved to Salt Lake City. She attended the University of Utah, graduating with her teaching certificate in 1931. For a time, she taught elementary school in Cedar City, but small town life never quite suited the girl with bigger dreams. She lived in New York City for a number of years, working various jobs and pursuing her dream of acting. In time, a job with the Navy took her to California. She soon left the Navy, but for much of her adult life she made California her home.

Blanche married twice but never had the opportunity to raise a family. Her first marriage, to Martin Don Monaghan in 1930, was short-lived and ended in an annulment. Years later, she married Maury Latker, who cared for her during her final illness until her death in Los Angeles in January 1970.

Relationship with Florence: Like many others, Blanche respected Florence as a confidante. Kristine remembers Blanche sitting at the kitchen table for hours, talking with Florence while Florence went about her work. Although Blanche herself said that the family always loved Florence more than they loved her, she displayed no animosity for her sister. On the contrary, she held Florence in high regard and loved her. The summer of Florence’s illness, Blanche came to Cedar to help out, just as she had done for Fae years earlier.

Woodrow Norris Decker

Woodrow

Woodrow was born on May 10, 1914 and was 13 when Harriet died. Florence lived with the family for the next two years but then went off to Cedar for college and just came home on weekends. That left MM and the two boys on their own, although several of MM’s children from his first marriage still lived in Parowan and likely stayed closely involved. By this point, Woodrow was 16 and Alpine would have been 13.

Woodrow was in FFA in high school and graduated from Parowan High School in 1932. In the summer of 1933, he worked as part of the Reforestation Corps in the Dixie National Forest.

Woodrow married Vera Dalton in May 1940 and settled in Parowan. He was 26, and she was 22. The newspaper describes them as a “popular young couple.” They had six children: Rodney, Joan, Sandra, Sharlene, Wayne, and Steve. In keeping with long-standing Decker tradition, all of the children have pursued careers in education.

When Woodrow and Vera married, MM took issue with the fact that they didn’t get married in the temple. He lived with them early on in their marriage, but upon arguing with Vera about religion he told Woodrow that he could no longer live in the same house. Woodrow took him down to Florence’s, and soon MM was living in his own apartment. They never quite repaired the breach.

For some time, Woodrow wasn’t particularly active in the LDS church. However, about the time of Florence’s illness, he accepted a call to the bishopric, which made Florence very happy. Woodrow and Vera were sealed in the St. George temple on June 9, 1954, while Florence was in the hospital following her brain surgery.

Woodrow and Alpine

Like his father and grandfather, Woodrow spent a number of years farming. Around 1960, he took a job for Parowan City and served as the city’s Public Works Director for the next two decades.  After he retired, he went back to work as caretaker of the City Cemetery. Woodrow died in Parowan in October 2000.

Relationship with Florence: Florence and Woodrow maintained a close relationship throughout Florence’s life. Their families visited back and forth frequently, and Florence and Elwood’s family used to go over to Parowan frequently for Sunday dinner. Woodrow thought Florence was an angel, and though he wasn’t a man to show his feelings, he truly grieved when she died.

Alpine Norris Decker

Alpine herding sheep in 1938

Alpine was born June 13, 1917. When Harriet died, he was just 10 and the baby of the family (Homer having died previously). Alpine was active in school and played basketball for Parowan High. Still, like Blanche, he was anxious to leave Parowan. In October 1936 he went to Los Angeles to look for work, and by the end of 1937, he was herding sheep at the foot of Little Boulder Mountain, on the west side of Delamar Valley in Nevada. For the next few years he herded sheep and worked for the Union Pacific Railroad.

In 1941 Alpine joined the military. He spent the years of WWII stationed Fort Knox, Kentucky and serving as a small arms instructor. He had a reputation for being "a tough s.o.b.,” but those under his command came to appreciate his training, as the ability to disassemble and reassemble their weapons in the dark saved many lives.

While at Fort Knox, he met and married Margret Cranna. Florence’s daughter, Kristine, said the family back in Utah found out about the marriage when a letter came to the house addressed to Al from “Mrs. Al Decker.” Alpine and Margret had two girls (Ruth Jeanette and Willa Ann) and four boys (Alpine, Jr., Richard Conway, Mark Dean, and David Barry). It was Margret (not a member of the LDS church then) who got the kids and Al going to church. They were later sealed in the temple in 1963.

Alpine

After WWII, Alpine worked on General MacArthur’s staff in Japan. Fae remembers him as a big war hero, having risen to be Warrant Officer in the Army and being assigned to help with the rebuilding of Japan after World War II. Fae was inordinately proud of him and also tenderly protective because he was the baby of the family.

After Japan, Alpine and his family traveled with the military for the next few years, moving from Kentucky to Utah, then on to Virginia and West Germany, before returning to Fort Knox. They bought a home near Louisville, and once Alpine retired from the service, he worked for some time managing a uniform store. As part of his civilian job, he was asked to give an estimate for uniforming the guards inside the gold vault. He once remarked, “Humph, 20 years in the service, and I never got to go near the gold vault. I become a civilian and get to go in it.”

Alpine died in 1984, at the age of 67.

Relationship with Florence: Like many others, Alpine often confided in Florence and always came by to talk when he was in town. Verena said he and Wood missed Florence dearly when she went off to college. Alpine wrote to Florence in 1937 that she and Fae were “the two best sisters in the world.”

Homer Norris Decker

Homer was born September 21, 1919 in Parowan. He was just six months old when the family moved to Delta. The following summer, on August 2, 1920, Homer died after a bout of acute dysentery. The family buried him in Delta. Shortly after that, their life in Delta fell apart, and the family returned to Parowan. Homer’s death dealt a blow to Harriet from which she never quite recovered.

Relationship with Florence: Florence was seven when Homer was born and eight when he died. He was the second of Florence’s close family members to die, following Grandfather Norris’s death in 1915.