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The collection was donated in the Spring of 2002. These new materials were to be added to earlier donations.
Open for public use.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from Vesta Crump Smith Papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the Special Collections Board of Curators.
Vesta Mae Crump Smith, daughter of Reynold Wilford Crump and Myrtle Almira Frost, was born on 10 July 1937 in Bluffdale, Utah. Her mother chose her name, which in Roman mythology, is a goddess of the hearth and home. She is the sixth child of seven and grew up in the same house that she was born in for nineteen years.
Vesta moved away from home when she was nineteen years old. She first moved with a friend to Salt Lake City, but then later moved to Logan to attend Utah State University. She attended school for the Spring quarter and then moved to California with a bunch of friends. One of her friends, Lois Fukuda was from Hawaii and she invited Vesta and her friend Jeanne to visit her for the summer. By the end of the summer, Vesta had spent all of her money and so she decided to stay and get a job.
While in Hawaii, Vesta was active in the Waikiki Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called Mormon or LDS Church). She was asked to teach the M-Men and Gleaner class in the mutual program, ages 18-25. She attended Dr. Joseph T. Smith’s class where he taught the Book of Mormon. He was the first teacher to make her feel smart. He would later play a larger role in her life.
Vesta lived with the Fukuda’s until she decided to go to Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) in September 1959. At about the same time that she left for Provo, Dr. Smith and his family moved to Salt Lake City. She attended BYU for one quarter but had to return home because her mother was sick. A couple days after she returned home, her mother died. She decided that she would live with her father to help take care of him and lived there for two and a half years.
After two and a half years, Vesta had saved up enough money to spend a couple of months in Europe. She traveled to Europe by herself and met up with a Global Tour group and spent a month touring Europe with them. She left the group in Paris to meet her brother in Denmark, who was just finishing his mission. She then re-toured Europe with her brother and a friend of his from the mission.
Vesta returned home in time for the annual Sacra Dulse Chorus trip to Zion’s Park. She was there when she heard that Dr. Joseph T. Smith was single. Both Dr. Smith and Vesta had a mutual friend that worked at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. When Dr. Smith asked the friend if she knew of any secretaries, she suggested Vesta’s name. The next day, she received a call from Dr. Smith. The interview went well, but she had already made other plans to go back to BYU. Joe then asked her if she would like to go out for dinner and she accepted. The date went well and she was impressed with him.
Vesta and Joe dated for two weeks until she went back to BYU. Most of the dates they went on included bringing along one or more of his six kids. She moved to Provo so that she could attend school, but after a little over a month, she missed Joe so terribly that she quit school and moved up to Salt Lake. They dated for quite some time and broke it off a few times, but Vesta later proved herself to Joe as he took her kayaking in a dangerous area to see if she trusted him. Though she couldn’t swim, she trusted him completely and passed the test. Joe had already decided to marry her, but he made her wait a few months and finally proposed. They were married six days later on 23 August 1963 in the Logan Temple.
Vesta and Joe lived in Salt Lake in a one bedroom apartment. In November, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that Joe had custody of his children who were ten years or older. Their one bedroom apartment became quite crowded when four of his children came to live with them. After a month, they found a house to move into. In June 1964, they found a bigger and better home and lived there until the house they were building was finished.
In September 1964, Vesta and Joe decided that they were going to have a baby. She became pregnant right away and her first baby, Ceri Anne was born a month overdue on 19 July 1965. After their newly built house was finished, Vesta had their second daughter, Candide on 9 August 1968.
Vesta and Joe became part owners in a boys ranch located in Southern Utah and part owners in a stereo business. The stereo business experienced financial trouble and eventually, the company took out bankruptcy. The other two partners fled Salt Lake and so the creditors descended upon Joe and Vesta. Because of this, they nearly lost everything they owned.
They moved to Logan for a few months, and on 1 January 1972, they decided to get away from all the pressures. Vesta, Joe, Ceri, and Candi left for California with one small U-Haul carrying their earthly possessions. When they arrived in California, Joe worked at Camarillo State Hospital in California. At this time, he decided he would get a law degree, and so they moved their family in September 1974 to Washington D.C., where Joe pursued his degree in law.
Vesta had been out of college for over twenty years when she decided that she would attend school again. She was a forty-two year old sophomore at George Washington University. She completed her degree at American University in Washington D.C. Vesta also stayed active with her many other activities as well. She worked as a volunteer organization for mothers and was elected First Vice President during her many years there.
Vesta Crump Smith Autobiography found in MSS SC 2033.
Related Materials in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections:
1. Vesta Crump Smith Papers (MSS 1659)
2. Vesta Crump Smith Autobiography and Miscellaneous Items (MSS SC 2033 )
The collection contains the rough draft of “Beyond the Sunset: Selected Short Stories from the Life of Joseph T. Smith”; originals and photocopies of photographs of Joseph Thurston Smith and family; mostly incoming family correspondence; ephemera from her grandchildren; family newsletters; cards; wedding invitations; newspapers; class notes; death certificates and wills; items from events, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Brigham Young University; brochures of places she has visited; addresses and phone directories; recipes; LDS Church bulletins; art prints and calendars; and miscellaneous items. The collection has been arranged into four boxes. Box four is contained in the Photo Archives.
[The photographs have been moved to box 4 and are contained in the Photo Archives. Only photocopies remain in box 1, fd. 2-4. For a complete inventory of the photographs, refer to box 4, fd. 1-3 in the register.]
Includes baptism program and birthday flier.
Includes drawings, locks of hair, and other.
Includes “Kidd Newsletter” and “The Peanut Butter Press.”
Contains Christmas, Birthday, Sympathy, and Get Well Cards. Post cards are also included.
[This book has been removed from the collection and is now contained in Americana.]
The events include General Conference, Mormon Tabernacle Choir concerts, and etc.
The events include BYU concerts.
Brochures and postcards of places visited. Also includes Israeli stamps of the 19th Century Exploration of the Holy Land.
Spring Term Program,
Includes Potomac South Ward Directory,
Includes Salt Lake City 18th Ward. [President Hinckley and President Faust have gone to this ward several times.] Also includes “A Proclamation to the Family” and “The Living Christ.”
Ecclesiastical forms, bookmarks, and miscellaneous papers.