Thomas and Mary Ann Ovard are blessed for their service

In the spring of 1905, when my brother was called on a mission, my parents were hard pressed to raise the $45 a month necessary for his keep. The Relief Society gave a farewell dinner for him and presented him with a purse of $75. I helped them all I could by taking my two tiny children, Joseph and George, in the baby carriage into the field with me while I helped harvest hay and grain. For two summers, I loaded and stacked every load of hay and grain that was hauled in.

My husband used to get a few days work here and there. I remember he worked for John Paskett for two days digging post holes for $1.50 per day. The day he came home and handed me the money, I had received a letter from my brother stating that he needed money.

I told my husband, "Will needs money and our two children need shoes. What shall we do?" He said, "Send it to your brother. We will get shoes for our children somehow."

That night I had a dream, a vision or some wonderful thing. I dreamed that my husband and I went down in the narrows along the railroad tracks to pick up coal. We had to go by Croyden then, because there was no road through the narrows. It was told in my dream that we would find plenty of coal and shoes for our children, if we would go to a certain little sage brush, by the side of the tracks.

So, the next morning I got up and told my dream to my husband. We hitched our old black horse to our wagon and went to see what we could find. I walked down the track to the spot I had seen in my dream. There was a shoe lace sticking out of the cinders. I started to dig the dirt and cinders away with my hands. There in the dirt, were 13 pairs of shoes all in men's and boy's sizes. I called to my husband and he helped my gather them and take them to the wagon.

We also got so much coal we could not carry it.

When we got home we checked with the local stores to see if any shoes had been stolen. None had, so we sold five pairs and my husband had enough shoes to last for years.

"I learned through that vision, or whatever it may have been, that by doing good to others and not being selfish, we are blessed."