EVANGELINE PRICILLA LUND
By Constance Lund Neel
Evangeline was born on the 29th of March 1906 in Salt Lake City, Utah in the first home of Djalmar Emanuel Lund and Aagot Marie Randby. She was the first child born into the family. Shortly after her birth, Mother walked up town in meet Dad and buy a perambulator (baby carriage). They were so proud. Vange screamed every time they put her in it and ended up walking home, carrying the baby as the other pushed the perambulator. When Vange was still of pre-school age, Mother and Father bought the property at 677 West Capitol Street.
Then Mother took Vange and Temmie, her younger sister, and went to Ogden to live with a cousin while the house was being constructed. Vange attended the Washington Elementary School and L.D.S. High School. When she was almost eleven years old, she won First Prize, a blue ribbon, at the Fair for her crocheting and embroidery work. When she was seventeen she earned spending money by making men's shirts for the Rudhart's. I was told by my mother many times that Vange spent a good deal of her earnings on baby clothes for me and proudly displayed me wearing them to her friends.
In May of 1929, the family moved to 266 Douglas Street because the older girls convinced their parents that they needed a nicer home and neighborhood in which to entertain their friends. Vange met Lon Sutton, who was to become her fiancée in this new locale. Lon and Lev Sutton were left orphans when they were young, so their aunt who lived on 5th South and 13th East took care of them. They grew up there and attended East High School where Lon became a football hero. When visiting Mable Lund, a cousin, one weekend for a party, Vange met Lon and fell in love. After work on weekends she would take the trolley up to Mable's where she and Lon would meet. Lon spent his summers in El Paso, Texas working as a surveyor for the gas company and started attending the University of Utah during the school year. Vange became good friends with Lon's aunt and uncle and had many Sunday meals with them while Lon was away. When she was to graduate from East High School, there was so much excitement. Her lilac chiffon dress arrived from the dress maker and shortly after came a corsage from Lon. She was so excited for after the graduation exercises they held the graduation dance and Lon was taking her. This was Lon's third year of college after summers in Texas and they were planning to marry. In the meantime, Lon had decided to join the Church. His aunt, who was not L.D.S., was very unhappy. During his last summer in Texas, they planned to meet in California to be married. Two weeks before he contracted pneumonia and died. It was a terrible shock.
Evangeline started working for Walkers Department Store in the millinery department decorating hats and later making hats. She then worked for the Telephone Company. She met a life time friend there, Alice Kidd, who became endeared to the entire family. Later she worked for the Western Company of Safeway Inc. in the wholesale warehouse where she met John B. Brockman, who was the General Manager of the Western Division of the Safeway stores. He fell desperately in love with her and lavished her with gifts of fox furs and diamonds. They were married February 6, 1932 and moved to Seattle, Washington, after losing everything in the depression of 1929. J.B. had owned 6 chain stores in different towns and ended his years with Safeway working in Webster South Dakota cleaning and stocking the shelves of a Safeway store.
A son, Nicholus, was born on 31 December 1932, they year they left for Seattle, Washington. After moving to Seattle where they purchased a lovely home, Vange starting working for Frederick and Nelson in the yardage department. J.B. worked as a longshoreman, filling in when the men were ill. J.B. died at 68 years of age in 1958. After his death, Vange remained in Seattle for 10 years, retiring at age 65 and then moving to Carmel, California where she lived in a lovely condominium called the Del Mesa near her son. Her last four years were spent living on her son's ranch in Carmel Valley. She spent her last years sewing for her dear grandchildren and caring for and loving her family. She was a special sister to me, sewing clothes and doll clothes for my children and endearing her to them. Her greatest heirloom to us was some gorgeous Christmas stockings that she sewed, embroidered and decorated with beads. They were a showpiece and tradition for every Christmas where they graced our fireplace, always attracting attention. As each child was born, one of these precious stockings came in the mail at Christmas with our newborn's name embroidered on it. Vange's final hours were painful as she had complications in her back from carrying such heavy loads of materials for so many years. Her bones deteriorated and she ended up using a walker to move about in her home. She passed away on May 10, 1980. Vange will always be remembered as a very refined lady, meticulous in her dress, and her home being a symbol of good taste.