Granna Epperson gets a High Five

Submitted by jen.teemant on

Granna Epperson comes to our school each Christmas season and gives each of our OEK students a handmade quilt.  This year Granna Epperson was awared a High Five from KSL Channel 5 news.  Thank you Granna Epperson!

Beth Alice Waller Epperson was born on February 17, 1927 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She was born at home in a house on 33rd South in East Mill Creek.  She weightd 5 lbs. and was so small she fit in a box of her Grandfather's new boots.  They put her on the oven door of the coal stove to keep her warm.

Her family was quite poor.  In 1929 all of teh vbanks closed and her dad lost all of his money.  They lived on an acre of land, so her Dad grew lots of vegetables and every kind of fruit grown in Utah.  These are some of the prices in 1927, the year she was born: Bread - 9 cents/loaf, ground beef - 13 cents/lb, eggs - 14 cents/dozen, gas 12 cents/gallon.  A new car was $495.00 and the average income was $2400.00/yr.

When she was 12, her best friend's mother (Phoebe Castleton) gathered the primary girls and taught them how to knit.  This was the beginning of a lifelong talent.

She was married to Robert John Epperson on August 29, 1947 in her sorority house at the University of Utah.  They were married for 68 years.  Grandpa Epperson passed away in April of 2015.  They have two children, Robert and Elizabeth, 10 grandchildren, and 38 great- grandchildren.

In 1960, Granna Epperson bought the "Knit Wits" shop for $1800.00. It was a shop where people came to learn how to knit and it became a profitable buisness.  Her talents have blessed many people.  She has knit a Christmas stocking for every member of her family and has made 100's of patchqork quilts.  In the early 1990's she started counting what she had given to Primary Children's Hospital, homeless shelters, kindergarten children, Africa, etc. (971 and counting).

Granna Epperson's whole life has been didicated to serving others.  She has volunteered in many hospitals, in church callings, and served LDS missions with her gusband to St. George, Utah and to Piladelphia, Pennsylvania.

Granna and Grandpa Epperson traveled the world and have been to 77 different countries.  She has had a wonderful, adventurous 89 years!

Attributions
Patty Garcia