Eliza Erma Bodell

Known as Erma, she was born on June 27th, 1899 in Herriman, UT in the United States to Joseph Samuel Henry Bodell and Sarah Lovinia Howard. She was the sixth of thirteen children, with five sisters and seven brothers.

Erma and her little brother John

By the time she was ten years old she had seven brothers and sisters, including five year old twins, Mildred and Milton.

8th Grade

Erma went to public school through her eighth grade graduation, which gave her two more years of formal schooling than her future husband.

I remember being told stories of her youth when she was known as a kind and very funny girl. She was told that it was improper for a young girl to ride with a boy alone in a car, so instead of riding inside her friend's Model-T she would stand outside the car on the running board while the driver slowly made his way up the road, laughing the whole way.

By early 1917, when she was sixteen years old, she briefly dated Ace Crump, but he broke off their relationship when he joined the army and left to fight in Germany and France in WWI. He had a change of heart while overseas and wrote a letter begging forgiveness, professing his love and asking her to wait for him.

She did wait, and she kept that letter for the rest of her life. They were married in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple in SLC, UT on September 8th, 1920, when she was twenty one years old.

Erma worked for the Army Air Base near Salt Lake City during WWI and took great pride in her job. She was loved by her co-workers who especially valued her wicked sense of humor.

Erma on the right

Their first child, [still living in 2013], was born on June 16th, 1921.

Their second child, Elva Lovinia, was born on January 7th, 1923 in Herriman, UT.

Their third child, Fern, was born on July 24th, 1924 in Herriman, UT.


They lived in a little house in Herriman, UT, but moved to a mining company house* in Lark some time around 1925 when they had three young daughters, Madge, Elva and Fern.

Their fourth child, [still living in 2013), was born on March 10th, 1930.

Elva tells the story of a typical Monday in the house in Lark:

"A memory of that house that comes to mind whenever I think of my childhood is the wonderful Mondays. That is the day my mother always washed clothes. We had a wood burning stove and we had to heat all the water, so she would have the pot going on the back of the stove. Mainly it was beans. I remember the warm, safe feeling, the smell of the washing, the beans and my mother close by."

By 1930 when she was thirty years old her daughters were eight, seven and five, and she had an infant son named Boyd. Ace was working as a minor, and they owned a home* in Precinct 10 (on the east side of Lark) of SLC which was worth $500. The house had a big front porch , a dining room, living room, kitchen, 1 bedroom and a bath room. They had a radio.

Their fifth child, Carol Erma, was born on December 26th, 1931 in Murray, UT.

Their sixth child, Mary Dean, was born on November 19th, 1933.

In 1940, at forty years old her three oldest girls were eighteen, seventeen and fifteen, Boyd was ten and the two youngest daughters were eight and six.

According to the local city directory in 1958 they lived at 350 6th ave. Midvale, UT, which is now Alexander Dahl Park.

Her oldest grand daughter remembers this:

"Grandma Crump was a very industrious person and had many jobs, but I cannot remember all of them. I do know that she worked for Bosch Cleaners for around 25 years as an ironer on the big Mangle machine. She was almost 80 years old when she retired and then she took in laundry and ironing at her home for about 10 years. She was a very industrious lady and even though she was blind the last 10 to 15 years of her life, she never let it stop her from doing things.

She used to drive her own car in the Midvale parades by riding on the running boards instead of on the front seat and coasting along the parade route by steering from the open window. She was quite the character. All of grandma’s sisters had macular degeneration and she passed that trait on to Madge. Mom (Elva) did not seem to have it though, and so far, [my sister] is the one with bad eye sight, but non-macular degeneration. I am beginning to see double, like Madge, but the eye doctor said that I do not have macular degeneration, but I do have astigmatism that is causing the double vision. It is correctable with glasses. Even though Grandma was blind the last few years of her life, she never stopped doing things. She used to crochet and knit and made lots of blankets and quilts with Granny Squares in multiple colors. She had a system that would allow her to know what color the yarn was and “felt” her way through the process. I know that I used to see her lap quilts and blankets in stranger’s cars because she made so many of them and sold them at festivals and through the Senior Center. That was how she still earned her money when she was older.

Once she reached the age of 90 years old, her children all felt it was time for her to go into assisted living, when she stayed until she died. They had to sell her home in order to pay for the stay, and died just as they were running out of money. She hated being in the home, but her health was so bad, that she really had no choice."

1943 during WWII

She became a grandmother in 1943 when her granddaughter was born, and her son-in-law was away in the South Pacific.

Ace and Erma

Ace and Erma were married for forty years. She was only sixty when he died and lived alone for the rest of her life. She was always a capable and independent woman and I remember her little house being full of items from her life, but well organized and always clean. She even did her own yard work and kept a beautiful garden in the back of the house. One day when I was about nine years old (so she would have been about seventy eight) we arrived for a visit. We knocked on her door but got no answer. Instead she came around from the back of the house, smiling and covered in mud. She had been pulling weeds out of the flower beds and had filled two large garbage cans despite being blind and nearly eighty.

Her smile and ready laugh are two of the things I remember best about her. She also had a great sense of adventure and never let her age or disabilities stop her from trying new things.

When she was about eighty four years old she came to visit us along with my grandparents. I was in gymnastics at the time and spent a little bit of time every day on the living room floor stretching. She got right down on the carpet and did the stretches with me, laughing the whole time. She held my hand and felt my arms and legs to "see" what I was doing and followed right along. She thought it was hilarious that we had to help her up off the floor, and swatted away her daughter's objections that she was going to hurt herself.

Erma in Dec 1966

She died January 4th, 1992 in Midvale, UT, and was buried in Midvale City Cemetery, Midvale, UT.

*US Census records show that they owned the Lark house, but family members recall it as a company owned house.

Did you know Erma? Do you have any memories, photos or information to add? I would absolutely love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below to add your information. If you have photos to share, please send them to me along with any other information at tomebug (at) gmail (dot) com.