Glade 2: William Lester Glade, Part 1

William Lester Glade was born January 23, 1894 at 327 "C" Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, the first child born in the home of William John and Annie Hamilton Glade. He was given his father's name, William, and also the name Lester, by which he was always known. He made his home in Salt Lake City throughout his life.

 

William Lester Glade.

January 20, 1895, when Lester was one year old, his father received a call to go on a mission to the Southern States for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The following August 25, 1895, Lester's sister Mary was born. After being away for 28 months, their father returned July 5, 1897.

From then on, Lester was always with his father who taught him the true value of work, and that anything worth doing was worth doing well. Inasmuch as Lester's father was always working, taking out a wall and building a new room, continually remodeling the home, Lester was always busy helping, hammering nails and building something.

 

Annie, Harvey, Lester, Mary, Beulah, and William John Glade.

327 C Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1901.

Lester loved to build! Mary will always remember the cupboard he built one Christmas for [his sisters] Beulah and Mary's doll dishes. Lester's daughter Beverly has a chair that her father built in his teenage years. Dr. Leland Cowan still remembers a wagon he and Les made. Lester and [his younger brother] Harvey built a scenic railway in the backyard. Their father was able to get large wheels from the Z.C.M.I. Knitting Factory to put on the large wooden cart that carried two passengers down the scenic track. This was a great thrill and attraction for all the children in the neighborhood. Lester and his father were always gathering hardware and lumber for building furniture and different things. Lester was frugal this way all his life.

Lester first went to the Lowell School (corner of Third Avenue and 'E' Street). When Mary started school she was very proud to be taken by her big brother. Later they attended the Lafayette School, (State Street and North Temple). Lester graduated from Lafayette on Thursday, 28 January 1909. He then went to Salt Lake High School (now West High) and graduated in Commercial or Business School on June 13, 1913. This was the first graduating class in a three year Commercial Course. He took shorthand, typing, business law and bookkeeping.

When he was very young he started working at small jobs at the Z.C.M.I. His employers were very well pleased with him as he was honest, dependable and a hard worker. Lester felt a keen responsibility to work and help the family at home. He was a thorough and fast worker, very efficient and had a desire to always improve. His first steady job was at the Beaver River Power Company (Telluride Power Company) in Provo in 1914. His letters home at this time are very interesting reading. He bought the family a piano, a black upright, on November 3, 1915, just before going on a mission for the L.D.S. Church.

To be continued...