Wellsville historian Wilma Hall says there's no place like home

By Jeremy Wilkins

April 1, 2005 | WELLSVILLE -- Things aren't the same today as they used to be in Wilma J. Hall's hometown of Wellsville, but the two-time outstanding citizen and co-author of Windows of Wellsville, 1856-1984 says she doesn't mind much.

A native of Wellsville, Hall has lived there all her life. She attended Floradell Elementary School, Wellsville Junior High School, South Cache High School and received a master's degree in business education from Utah State University. Minus an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a year in Idaho and some traveling here and there, she said she has been in Wellsville all her life and would rather stay where she is then live anywhere else.

"As beautiful as the world is I'm always glad to come back to Cache Valley and Wellsville. It's a great place to live, the best people in the world," Hall says. "There's no place like home."

Hall said her hometown has changed a great deal since she was younger. She said everyone in the community used to know each other like a big family and adds that Wellsville was once a much more rural community and has lost closeness among its citizens. Hall also said "you have to be careful how you talk about that," because while some closeness has been lost, she acknowledges the growth as an important asset to Wellsville.

"We've just grown up I guess, we've become larger and as you become larger you lose that close, knowing-everyone-feeling you used to have."

She remembers when a train, called the "Leaping Lena," ran through Wellsville and gave many high school kids a ride to school. People used to gather to watch plays and movies which were once presented and shown at the Wellsville Community Theater, which stood at 44 East Main St.

All of these memories and much more of Wellsville's history is documented because of Hall and a few others. Hall was part of the Wellsville History Committee which wrote Windows of Wellsville, 1856-1984, a 736-page book about the city's history and prominent figures in the community's past. The committee consisted of LaRayne Bankhead Christensen, Ruth Maughan, Don and Virginia Poppleton, Eva Parkinson and herself. Hall said the committee dissolved itself for various reasons as the book was coming together, leaving Christensen, Maughan and herself to gather information and write the book. Hall also gathered and took many of the pictures for the book, which was written over a 10-year period and is called a "labor of love" by the three. Though the committee dissolved, there was help from outside sources such as Herald Journal columnist A.J. Simmonds.

"I have a special feeling for LaRayne and Wilma. During the past five years, there have been many weeks when I'm sure they spent more time with the manuscripts at USU than I did. I should like to have minimum hourly wage for the hours those two spent researching in Special Collections," wrote Simmonds in a column printed in The Herald Journal on June 10, 1985. He added that the book was "magnificent" and set a new standard for publishing.

Hall received Wellsville's Outstanding Citizens Award twice, once in 1982 and again in 2003. She is a recipient of the Historic Preservation Award for literary accomplishment for Windows of Wellsville, 1856-1984 as were Christensen and Maughan, and has received other awards as well.

To her name are pioneer ancestors and founding figures of Wellsville. Her great grandfather, Francis W. Gunnell was one of 25 people who entered Cache Valley on Sept. 15, 1856, and helped settle Maughan's Fort, which was renamed Wellsville in honor of Daniel H. Wells, second counselor to President Brigham Young of the LDS Church. Gunnell was also Maughan's Fort's first school teacher, Hall said.

Amidst all she has done for her community historically with the book, Hall said she also taught business courses at Malad High School, South Cache High School, Sky View High School and Mountain Crest High School, heading the business departments at South Cache, Sky View and Mountain Crest.

Hall said she would like to see the landscape of her hometown preserved and taken care of to preserve its scenic beauty and the view of the Wellsville Mountains. Recently Dean and Allie Murray, of Wellsville, sold 604 acres of their farm land to the U. S. Forest Service and said in a column in The Herald Journal on March 27, they wanted the land to stay the way it is. Hall agrees with their decision.

"That's great that the land will be kept the way it is now, that there won't be any subdivisions in there," Hall said.

Despite unwanted subdivisions which threaten the scenic and agricultural aspect of her hometown, Hall still says Wellsville is a great place to live with "solid, dedicated, devoted people."

With all she has done in her community, one may ask, what is Hall's next venture? She said purchasing a digital camera is next on her list of things to do.

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