JOHN DONALD GABBOTT
I was born May 15, 1911 at 1541 S. West Temple, in Salt Lake City, Utah. My earliest memory is that I was playing with a lawn hose in the grass in front of the house. I got all wet, and my older brother took a picture of it. I was about four years old.
On our street there were no paved streets nor sidewalks. A street car track ran down the middle of our street. As a boy, I remember putting bottle caps on street car tracks to flatten them out. We used them as play money.
There were orchards and farms nearby in which I would play with playmates. My father was a carpenter and a builder. I remember playing with blocks and sawdust in his shops. A railroad track was located a block west where I played. I used to like to watch the trains.
I attended Jefferson School on West Temple. I was an average student progressing fairly well, considering the fact that I dislike school. The degree of like or dislike depended on the personality of the teacher. In some grades I was quite happy. The class I enjoyed most was woodworking. I would like to come home after school and play with my trains at the side of the house where I had built a network of tracks.
I attended South Junior High School, later named the Lincoln High School. I rode a bicycle over to Junior High.
When I was 13, my mother had a stroke. She was partially paralyzed on her right side. During this period in my life I went on many excursions hiking in the mountains with church groups. One in particular was with Kaspar Fetzer as leader. We climbed part way up Timpanogos. He gave nature talks along the way about the plants.
My attendance at Church meetings was sporadic and infrequent, perhaps because of timidity and not being urged by my parents. I could do pretty much as I pleased.
High School was West High in Salt Lake City. In good weather I went by bicycle the five miles round trip. In bad weather I went by street car.
I remember disliking the ROTC Military Training. I liked most the classes in printing and iron work. I was still shy of girls and did not date all during High School.
In grade school a group of us had been put forward a half a grade. So, in 1929 when the family moved to California, I left school without graduating. I would have graduated at the half of the next year. After I was married I went to the University of Utah and completed the credits necessary for graduation.
We lived in Long Beach six months. We were there for my mother’s health. By this time Bill and Helen were married. Marge was with us. All that I remember about this period is that we went on frequent drives and I read a great deal.
During high school days I became interested in photography and in the projection end of motion pictures. I would take snapshots and develop them and then print them. When we returned to Salt Lake I worked in a number of movie houses as the projectionist. I worked at this for many years.
In 1934 Mother died suddenly. On December 20 she complained of a pain in her lower chest cavity. We thought at first it was indigestion. Dad I were there alone with her. It was in the night about 11 p.m. Her death was easy and quick. Dad held mother. She was gasping for breath. Then she was gone. Bill and his wife Margaret had moved in 1930 to Philadelphia. Helen and Marge were married and living in Salt Lake. The funeral was held in Deseret Mortuary just after Christmas.
Dad and I lived together, batching it, there at 1500 S. West Temple. I lost my job at the theater to make room for the owner’s relative. The big depression was on.
While I was working at the theater, I met an usherette, named Marjorie Jones. We became engaged, but after a few months we decided to call it off.
It was about this time that I became re-interested in the Church, partly through the efforts of Otto Brey. Soon I was ordained an Elder and was the Elder Quorum’s secretary in the Jefferson Ward.
In December of 1935 I was called on a mission to the Northwestern States. This was a difficult adjustment since I was of a shy and retiring nature and had lived a somewhat sheltered life. This experience was of great help to me.
At all times in my life I had been interested in reading - not so much fiction as non-fiction. That I was able to get up enough courage and the desire to go on a mission was due in part by my studies of psychology, etc.
After I returned from my mission there was a period of a year’s unemployment. I lived with my father at 1500 S. West Temple. We batched together.
Then I worked for the City in the Purchasing Department. I worked there about a year. In 1940 I quit this job and went to work for Sears Roebuck in the Credit Department.
While in the mission field I met a girl named Mabel Jones, to whom I was attracted. Our friendship grew as we met again in NWS missionary groups in Salt Lake City.
In 1939 I was asked to serve in the Jefferson Ward Bishopric, as second counselor, to Bishop Ernest Jorgensen. Leonard Brimley was the first counselor.
In the spring of 1941, Mabel and I became engaged and we were married on June 30, 1941 in the Salt Lake Temple by Elder Harold B. Lee. Ours was a happy union from the very beginning.
We first lived at 1502 S. West Temple. We honeymooned in Canada and visited the Cardston Temple. President Edward J. Wood there gave us each a wonderful blessing.
Shortly after we were married I left Sears - by request - and worked at Utah Savings and Trust Bank. I worked in the trust department. The reason I was not kept on at Sears is that I indicated on a questionnaire my reluctance to be transferred to any store in the country.
After about a year at the bank, through the Stuart Brothers recommendation, Mr. Bywater of Red Feather Oil Co asked me to be their bookkeeper. Following high school I had taken extension courses in bookkeeping, advertising, public speaking, English and others. While at the bank I took further courses at Henagers Business College in Banking, Business, Law, etc. I continued my interest in photography as a hobby during these years.
In the year of 1945 I was released as a counselor to Bishop Jorgensen and I started night school, intending to be a Certified Public Accountant. In January 1946 I was called to be a member of the Temple View Stake High Council by President Adiel F. Stuart.
In the fall of 1946 I left Red Feather Oil to go into business for myself - to open a photographic studio in Bountiful. It was April 16, 1947 before we were actually ready to open for business at 32 East 1st South, Bountiful - the Bountiful Studio.
After a couple of lean years, we were able to get the business established. Although there were difficulties and heartaches, I enjoyed the profession and having a business of my own.
Meanwhile, in November of 1947, I was sustained as Bishop of Jefferson Ward with Wayne Prince and Reid Bankhead as my counselors. Reid moved form the ward to join the faculty of BYU about a year later, and Earl E. Olson was sustained in his place. Being bishop was a different, and difficult, though rewarding experience.
In October of 1949, I was released as bishop of Jefferson Ward because we had moved our residence to Bountiful to 166 East 1st South. At this time my father was living with us and he moved to Bountiful with us.
For a few years my father had been receiving treatment for cancer of the mouth. During the winter of 1950 this became so extreme that father was taken to the LDS Hospital. He died there at the age of 80 on January 6, 1951. He was buried from Jefferson Ward.
In March of 1952, I was made a member of the Bountiful Stake High Council under President Amby Brigss. This was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life for he was a great man and I loved him. When Stanford G. Smith was made Stake President, I was made senior High Councilman under him, which position I held until March of 1962.
In March of 1952 I bought a wholesale photo supply business, called Brandon Sales, in the pursuit of which I would call on studios throughout the states of Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. I bought it for $800 goodwill plus $1000 in inventory. Sales consisted mainly of picture frames and mounts for photographs. In about 1956 I added the Ansco dealership of papers and chemicals for photographers. This job necessitated my traveling the near territory about 100 miles radius approximately once every six weeks. The whole territory was covered twice each year. These journeys provided relief form the monotony of studio work - especially the trips in March and September to Southern Utah and Nevada when Mabel would accompany me. I t was interesting to us to observe the phenomenal growth of the City of Las Vegas.
Occasionally I took the children with me on these trips and learned to know them better. It was a most enjoyable experience on both parts.
In 1960 we moved from 32 East 1st South, the studio building we had rented form the Mabeys in 1946, when we first came to Bountiful. We bought property at 458 South Main Street in Bountiful, and built a new attractive building. (Don planned the inside just like he wanted it.)
An interesting period now ensued when we built up the business by taking the yearbook pictures for the High School. It became a total family involvement with all of us working long hours day and night. At times we hired other help in the dark room and retouching.
In January of 1966 we leased the studio business and bought a plastics business. The company in the East did not fulfill its agreement, and we lost a considerable amount of money. So, in 1967 I returned to full operation of the studio and began to build back the photography business.
In the summer of 1967 we added a Bridal Service to help increase weddings. In 1968 Kathleen Swainston worked with me in promoting weddings. In 1968 also I began to enlarge the frame department of Brandon Sales with a custom frame business. In August I went to a conference in Oakland and visited Victor Moulding. I began to invest in mouldings of all
patterns and sizes, and the frame business bounded ahead.
In 1972 I approached Gross Mounts to sell their products in my regular territory and also in Montana and Wyoming. It has proven to be a most enjoyable association and a profitable business venture. In January of 1974, I spent three great days with the Gross representatives in Santa Rosa, California.
In 1972, to enable me to travel more, I asked Betty Carlton to come from Cedar City, Utah to work full time with me. Her color portraits are quite exceptional and attract much attention. She had proven to be very helpful in many other areas.
In August of 1973, at a “burn the mortgage papers” dinner at our home, we told all five children who were present that we had now paid off all debts and the property and business were free and solvent.
Now I would like to chronicle perhaps the most important part of my life - the birth of our children.
We have five children - two girls, Cheryl Lea and Sue Ellen, were born while we lived in Salt Lake City and were part of our experiences in Jefferson Ward. Three boys - John Richard, William Geoffrey, and Steven Bernard - were born to us in Bountiful.
They have brought much joy to us and many maturing experiences.
Life with both its joys and its difficulties has been an exciting and satisfying experience I have appreciated the pleasant times of success as well as the painful times of making mistakes. I have learned from both. To me that is what life is for: to learn ... to learn to exercise our free agency, to accept responsibility, and to love our fellowmen.