My mother related
this story to me many times. She finally wrote it down.
We have been very
fortunate with our finances for a large part of our married life. We lived in
homes with no mortgages. We had a vacation home. We had enough money for our children’s college
and missions. We have been able to travel a lot and live very well.
It was very
different the first few years we were married. After my grandparents died, we
lived in their home with my unmarried uncle. This helped us save the down
payment on a $9,000 home - $140 a month. We could barely afford that as Steve
didn’t earn very much. I had been taught as
a child to pay tithing but Steve’s parents were inactive and he didn’t know
anything about it. He did start paying regularly so we could be sealed in the
Salt Lake Temple on our honeymoon.
In 1950, we had been
living in our home for a few months struggling financially – no furniture, etc.
We had a 1934 Ford Coupe and sure wished we had a better car. One Sunday when
Annette was 1-1/2 years old, we paid our tithing. That afternoon, a little before
Sacrament meeting, we all got in the car to run an errand. There were no car
seats in those days and I was holding Annette on my lap. Three blocks from our
home, as we drove along a through street with cars behind us, a car from a side
street ran through the stop sign without even slowing down. He was driving into
the sun and didn’t even realize he had come to an intersection. His car was
heavier than ours and he hit us broadside, rolled us and pushed us a ways down
the street.
Being trapped in an upside
down car is not a good Sunday afternoon activity. Only the windshield was
safety glass and Annette broke the side window with her face. Fortunately, the
scars eventually faded and she had no idea it had happened until she was a
teenager and I told her. Steve had been able to hold onto the steering wheel,
but I was thrown all around – hit the side of the car on impact, then thrown
against the dash board and against the ceiling as we rolled over. I was covered
with bruises and so sore, I couldn’t move by myself for several days and it was weeks until I stopped hurting.
Luck was on our
side; actually, the Lord blessed us. The man in the car behind us was an off-duty policeman. He immediately
took charge. After they got us out of the car, he took Annette and I to the
emergency hospital -- two blocks down the street from the ward building where
Sacrament meeting was just starting. I had someone phone my parents at their
chapel and they came and got Annette to take her with them for a few
days. Steve got a ride to the hospital and after we were treated and released
we took a taxi home. Our car was totaled and for a few weeks we had to rely on
others for our transportation.
After my parents
left we remembered our tithing check and because of the expenses of the
accident we thought we should ask for it back. We didn’t have a phone then, so
we didn’t phone the bishop about it and never did.
The next day, Steve
phoned Pres Howard Hunter from work and asked him to act as our attorney. He
later refused payment although we did pay him something. The off-duty policeman
was a wonderful witness and because a child was injured we got a very good settlement
and were able to pay cash for a lovely new Ford Sedan – the first of
cash-bought cars that we purchased all the rest of our lives. Having a new car
when normally that would have been impossible was nice.
The very next day
when the mail came, there was a nice little check which was a refund for
Steve’s military insurance that he had actually cancelled a couple of years
before. Boy could we use the extra money as we thought we were really broke.
That night we had a discussion on whether we should pay tithing on that money.
We finally decided we should.
As Steve started to write the tithing check and
in balancing the check book, he found he hadn’t entered deposits of his last
two paychecks. We weren’t broke at all. I don’t know why he hadn’t noticed it
when he wrote the first tithing check. Maybe it was a test of our faith. Twice
since we had moved into our new home, we had completely run out of food and we
had actually missed meals because of it. Our milk was delivered and paid
monthly so we had given that to Annette so she didn’t have to go hungry as we
did. We thought we were in that situation at that time also, but we weren’t.
The Lord really
blesses us when we pay our tithing. He doesn’t always give us more money, but
sometimes helps us manage what we have. Either way, paying tithing is a
blessing and we need that and will always pay our tithing.
