Read or listen to Casey Keams’s full oral history. Available in English.
Yeah. So what happened was we were packing and she told me, “You’re going to go to school in Utah.” I go “What?” Everybody was in Utah, all my cousins except one cousin and myself. We were both leaving with my other brothers and cousins that certain day. And I thought, “Oh, no, Mom!”
Yeah. [She said] “You’re eight, you got baptized, you need to go.” Then she goes, “I’m not taking you back to boarding school. They’re just too mean,” because we used to tell her what the teacher did. She didn’t like that. But she never complained. Well, I guess one day, she kind of got an argument with a matron and she was calling her kids names, [calling] us [names].
Ugly names. She even used the word, “the devil’s children” just because we were Mormons. I guess my mom goes, “You better watch that because I know where I put my children. So don’t worry, they’re not going to come back to this mean boarding school. They’re going to learn the proper way of living, not this place.” See, my mom never punished us. She was a gentle woman. She may say, “Alright, young lady, you’d better be careful. Watch what you say.” Then later on, she’ll come up to you and put your arms around you [and say] “This is what I was telling you. I’m telling you not to do that. Not to say that. Okay?” Real gentle. She never hit us or anything. That’s how I brought up my two kids. And I told my daughter and son, never ever yell at your children. Hug like grandma used to do to us. They really practice that. And I’m thankful for that. I’ll hand that down from my mom. Of course, my mom’s gone now, but her teaching has taught me a lot.