This is a great (and sorrowful) family story written by my father, Jim Hartley, primarily about his sister Raylene (my aunt) and his parents, Norma and Charlie (my grandparents). I want to share this because I believe it has some very valuable insights and lessons that can be of worth to anyone. Below are my father's own words:
Raylene Hartley: A Joy to All
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| Example of a milkman and delivery truck in 1946 |
Tuesday,
June 4, 1946. Ellis Oakley Spencer was making his routine afternoon
rounds as a milk deliveryman for Clover Leaf Dairy. He stopped his
truck and walked to the front porch of 211 East Hubbard Avenue in
Salt Lake City, where he carefully placed the bottles of milk ordered
by his customer.
Across
the street, at 218 East Hubbard Avenue, Norma Hartley was also
expecting a milk delivery, but from a different company. It was a hot
day, and she was concerned that her milk would get warm and spoil if
it sat too long on her front porch. Norma’s two oldest children,
Chuck, age 10, and Bryan, age six, were away from home playing with
friends. So, she told her four-year-old son, Billy, to let her know
when the milkman came.
Billy
and his two-year-old sister, Raylene, were playing across the street
with other children in a neighbor’s front yard. When that neighbor
needed to go somewhere, she sent the children home. As they left, Mr.
Spencer was in his truck marking his route book and waved to Billy.
About that time, Norma’s milkman arrived. Billy obediently ran home
to let his mom know.
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| Hartley’s home at 218 East Hubbard Avenue |
Moments
later, Norma’s milkman was pounding on their front door. “Mrs.
Hartley, please, can we use your telephone. The milkman from the
Clover Leaf Dairy needs to report an accident that he’s had.”
Mr. Spencer then entered and telephoned the police. “I must report
a death. I have run over a little girl.”
Norma
noticed that Billy had come in, but not Raylene. She stepped out onto
the porch and, to her horror, she saw her little girl’s body lying
in the street.
The
police arrived almost immediately, and Raylene was rushed to County
General Hospital, about two miles away. She was pronounced dead on
arrival.
Raylene’s
father, Charlie, was in Butte, Montana at the time. About two months
earlier, he had received a promotion from the Southern Pacific
Railroad to oversee their freight operations in Montana. He was in
Butte trying to find a home for the family. Charlie’s former
co-workers in Salt Lake City notified him in Butte that Raylene had
been in a serious accident. They then arranged for him to fly home.
Friends
picked Charlie up at the Salt Lake Airport. On the way to his home,
he was stunned by their news that Raylene was dead.
Norma
and Charlie had already been through a lot with their children. When
their oldest son, Chuck, was 18-months old, he nearly died from asthma. When their third son, Billy, as only a few months old,
glaucoma nearly permanently blinded him. Both were saved by
miraculous events.
 |
| Raylene Hartley, age 2 |
But,
not this time. Raylene’s death was devastating. The two-year-old
toddler had been adored by the whole family. Norma had been so
excited to finally have a daughter after giving birth to three sons.
She later summed it up this way, “Raylene had been such a joy to
all of us.”
The
Clover Leaf Dairy delivery man, Mr. Spencer, and his wife visited
Charlie and Norma to express their immense sorrow and deepest
sympathies. He had not noticed that Raylene had not followed her
brother home. He started up his truck and felt a bump as he moved
away from the curbing. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the
child lying in the road. The truck had passed over Raylene’s neck,
fracturing her skull and neck. Mr. Spencer was devastated and
heart-broken.
Charlie
and Norma realized that the death was an accident. Mr. Spencer had no
way of knowing that Raylene had crawled under the truck. Their
compassion toward Mr. Spencer was remarkable. Some people would have
been angry and bitter. They would have sued the milkman and his
company for many thousands of dollars. Here’s what Charlie said
about that: “The driver was no way at fault . . . . The company
that owned the vehicle was no way at fault. I didn’t feel that when
they’re not really at fault, that you should blackmail them for a
lot of money.” Even so, Charlie and Norma accepted a check from
Clover Leaf Dairy for $2,500.
The
events that followed immediately after Raylene’s death were a blur
to the family. After acknowledging all the sentiments, support, and
gifts of many, many good friends and neighbors, Charlie later
confessed that he couldn’t remember many of the details of that
difficult time. He said, “We were so upset and everything was so
disturbed and we had so many people in and out, I just don’t
remember.”
Raylene
was buried at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in East Millcreek, Utah. She
was joined four years later by her younger sister, Mary Elizabeth
Hartley, who died in Butte, Montana. Mary had only lived for five
hours because of complications caused by a dangerous flu that Norma
contracted during her pregnancy.
 |
 |
While
raising their family, Charlie and Norma understood hardship and
sorrow. But, they did not let it destroy them. Instead, they moved
forward with their lives and created an extremely happy, loving home
for their surviving five sons.
Regarding
those terrible challenges, a poem by Helen Steiner Rice reflects
Charlie’s and Norma’s attitude perfectly:
God
has told us that nothing can sever
A
life He created to live on forever.
So
let God’s promise soften our sorrow
And
give us new strength for a brighter tomorrow.
------------------------------------------
Written
by James E. Hartley, Raylene’s and Mary’s brother.
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Sources
and Photo Acknowledgement
- Newspaper report of Raylene’s accidental death— CPG)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FK4TRCPG
- Transcript of an oral history interview by William G. Hartley with Charles Alton Hartley, Jr., October 11, 1973
- Transcript of an oral history interview by William G. Hartley with Norma Miner Hartley, June 9, 1978
- http://cdn.onlyinyourstate.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/03/17021493_1463717743651947_6609801752851732429_n-700x628.jpg
- Rice, Helen Steiner, Expressions of Comfort, Barbour Publishing, Inc., 2007, 68. Used by permission.
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