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Fair Managers Association. Mr. Winder, the President of the Fair Board,
accompanied him. This meeting was the big event of the year in Dad’s
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year with stories for us of the circus acts that were demonstrated to the
group, the fancy dinners that were provided, the ice carving displays
and so on.
On a Wednesday, I was home from school due to a cold and sore
throat. Around 10 AM Mother was ironing in the kitchen. Edge came in
through the kitchen side door. Edge, who normally was brimming with
energy, was white as a sheet. At the time he was a student at West High.
He told Mother he had vomited at school and then he walked home. He
said, “Mother, I am going to die.” This was completely out of character
for him. Mother immediately said, “Oh Edge, don’t talk like that.”
Mother felt Edge’s forehead and said he had a fever. She had
him undress and go to bed in his room. She put cold compresses on his
forehead and called Dr. Tom Howell, our family doctor, who promised
to come by to examine Edge. Dr. Howell arrived in the afternoon. Edge
had fallen asleep or might have already slipped into a coma. Dr. Howell
called for an ambulance. He and Mother left for the LDS Hospital. I
was thunderstruck. Edge, always so full of vitality, had been carried out
of our house on a stretcher! We kids were in shock. Mother had a cot put
in Edge’s hospital room and she stayed with him day and night, coming
home only to bathe and change her clothes. Edge never regained con-
sciousness.
Mother sent a telegram to Dad in Chicago telling him Edge was
seriously ill and Dad needed to come home. Dad and President Winder
attended the closing banquet of the meeting. This was the “big show”
and was held at one of the major hotels in Chicago. Dad really enjoyed
these. In the middle of these festivities in Chicago Dad suddenly turned
to President Winder and said, “Something is wrong in my home.” (At
this point let me express the hope that none of my descendants ever for-
gets or denies that the Holy Ghost can communicate to any worthy in-
dividual. Such communication occurred at this time.) President Winder
was also a man of faith. He said, “Ernest, if that is how you feel, you
should go.” Dad hurried from the banquet, went back to his hotel, and

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