Oliver Leland Laub

Oliver Leland Laub was born Aug. 17, 1907 in St. George, Utah to Mabel Lucy Pearce and Minor Issac Laub. (Lealand is the way his middle name is spelled on his birth certificate but he always spelled it Leland and was called Lee by friends.) Mabel and Minor were both younger children born to second wives of early Mormon pioneers to St. George.

Nineteen years old Melba met twenty for years old Lee Laub at a party on New Years Eve 1931. The party was held in Enterprise, Utah at Mom's cousins Grace Terry's family home. The Terry's  held an old fashioned barn dance and turkey supper. Lee was working in the area and was invited to the gathering.

Recently I asked Mom's best childhood friend and cousin, Elva Carpenter Bracken, if she had been there when my parents met. She said, "No, but your mother told me about it. She said when Lee walked into the room your mother looked up from across the room. Their eyes met and that was that. He fell for her instantly."

At age 19 Melba was about 5 feet 5 inches tall. her hair was a medium brown that glistened with copper highlights in the sun. Her hair was cut in the fashionable Bob. her eyes were a blue gray and deep set, an inherited characteristic from her Norse ancestry. She had a teasing sense of humor. She was slim and had a shapely buxom build. In one of her teen age photos she is seen doing a perfect back-bend with her palms on the ground behind her.

Lee began sending love sick letters. His first one was written on Jan. 2, 1932, two days after their meeting in Enterprise. He warned that he was smitten and would soon come to town to see her.  He hoped she would save a date for him no matter what the time of day of the week he should appear.

He wrote while sitting in his tent using a suitcase for a writing desk. He described the cold rainy conditions he was in at the time, with  cans positioned around the tent to catch the leaks coming in.

On Jan. 20, in Lee's second letter to Melba, he was writing from Las Vegas at his mother's home located on 410 Wilson Avenue.

Evidential his time spent in St. George with Melba had been very rewarding. He teased her about hoping her nights were not too cold. He was certainly glad he had his warm coat the last time hey had been together to keep them both warm.

Already Lee wanted her to go to Las Vegas where he was then looking for work and living at home with his mother. He knew his mother would love Melva as soon as they met, just as he had.

Lee was wanting to get married by April. The Great Depression of the thirties was in full force and Lee was trying to find work that would support him and a wife.

Melba's mother, Emma, took a dislike to Lee. he was too good looking and moving too fast. he did not go to church. he also drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes.

In Lee's favor, he had the manners of a true gentleman.

Lee was of medium height, He was tanned from time spent out of doors and built well, His dark brown and combed twinkled easily with humor, His thick slightly wavy hair was dark brown and combed straight back with no part, as straight back as wavy hair will go. his beautiful smile revealed sparking white even teeth. He was a poet and had a great sense of humor.

However, Emma wanted her daughter to be married in the Temple. She wanted Melba to marry a man settled with a job that would provide well for a family.

How could Melba resist those sweet letters Lee wrote that could melt a heart?

Since she couldn't get her parents blessing to marry, Melba and Lee eloped to the next town, Santa Clara, and were married by the Justice of the Peace on June 22, 1932. Emma followed them and sat across the street and cried as the ceremony was performed. Lee's brother Bert and Bert's wife Shirley stood as witnesses.

As Emma foresaw, the marriage was not an easy one. Poverty was hard to rise above. Babies came one after another. As the years went by Lee's drinking became a serious problem. the deep love they shared held the family together through the years.

To earn a living Lee had to be away fro home more and more. Not until he joined the Operating Engineers Union fifteen years later was Lee able to make enough money to give his family a home he felt satisfied with and be able to spend time with his wife.

We have the recorded history of Lee's and Melba's thoughts and feelings from their letters. when reading the letters Melba so carefully saved over the years for her children, we give thanks for the wisdom of this mother who did not throw the letters away.

We all know how a child grows up thinking the world revolves around himself. For me to read these tender thoughts and happy planes my parents had for each other gave a new outlook on how I perceived faults I had found in my father. I have been able to look at him through the eyes of love when he was young and full of hopes and dreams.