This is the tale of 2 strong independent women -- Mothers – who in times when others might have whined about the difficulty of raising even one child alone handled the task of raising large families who went on to become strong and caring people in their own right.

Mary Dianthia Allred (whoese friends called her May) was born 8/18/1894 in Northup, Utah. Some time later her family moved to the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming – traveling by wagon in a small company.
Each evening when they camped one of the boys in their party would take his gun and shoot enough rabbits for dinner. This was the mainstay of their diet for the trip.

One day as her father walked beside the wagon the horses bolted with the wagon and the family inside it. Unable to catch them her father dropped to his knees and prayed for assistance. The horses stopped dead a short distance away where he easily caught up with them.

May met and married Amos Earl Asay in Lovell, Wyo on Nov 13, 1912. She has wanted to continue her education after high school but was overruled by her father who told her that wasn’t a woman’s place.

On 09/05/1923 they were sealed in the Salt Lake temple when their 4th child Maurice Earl (of 7) was 2 years old.

They had 22 years together when Amos died of Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever on 03/13/1934.

Left with 7 children to raise during the Depression May did what was necessary to take care of them. They lived off of rental property proceeds and the harvest of a large garden which she maintained for years next to a small 2 bedroom house (which had originally been two smaller houses which were joined together). They always also kept a small group of livestock – 2-3 cows, a few pigs, and chickens in pens behind the house. Maurice remembers covering the garden with manure from the livestock every year. He believes that over the years it would add up to at least a 3 foot high pile over the surface of the large garden plot.

May passed away on March 28, 1972 in Powell Wyo preceded by her youngest child Carmen; and survived by 6 of her children, Archie, Vida, Orvin, Maurice, Ted, and Anna Mae.

Annie Turner Low was born in Duchray Aberfoyle, Scotland on July 17, 1889.

When Annie was a young girl her Mother told her one day that when the fresh bread that was baking was done she could have a slice of the heel - her favorite part. So when it was done she decided that the end piece was too small so she cut her slice lengthwise on the side of the loaf and buttered that. Then she sat on their front step crying as she ate it because she knew she’d be in trouble when her mother got home.

Her older brothers taught her to ride a bike – holding her up on each side as she learned how to peddle it. Unfortunately when they let go she rode straight into a tree. This training helped her later in life since she never learned to drive a car and often used a bike for her transportation.

When she was a young woman she traveled to the US via Canada to visit her sister Mary Low Wilson who lived with here husband Isaac Wilson in Wyoming. While there she met her sister’s grown step-son Robert Benjamin Wilson. He had previously seen her picture and stated – “That’s the woman I’m going to marry”, which he did on July 24, 1916. They had 3 daughter’s – Myrtle, Betty, and Mary Maud. They also soon after took in Mary Wilson’s 5 children when she passed away. Robert died on May 10, 1932 when Mary Maud was 8 years of a heart attack.

Annie supported her family living at that time in Byron, Wyoming working as a housekeeper or whatever work she could find in Lovell. On one occasion she was entertaining the child of one home and his friends with stories she made up on the spot. The story was interrupted when the parents came home. Years later the boys came to her and wanted to know the end of the story which was long gone from her memory, but not from theirs.

She passed away while living with her youngest daughter Mary Maud and her family (who all loved to listen to her stories too) on December 17, 1967.