Owen David Ward, son of George and Eunice Nicholas Ward, was born May 29, 1889 in Woodruff, Oneida, Idaho.  His parents owned and operated a farm and raised cattle and sheep.  He was the twelfth child in a family of fourteen.  His parents came to Woodruff from Willard, Utah, in the spring of 1870.  Here they lived the remainder of their lives except for two years which were spent in Curlew Valley. 

It was necessary for every member of the family to do his share of the work on the farm, and each began to work at an early age.  When Father was twelve years of age, his father met with an accident which caused his death on September 7, 1901, leaving a great responsibility on young Owen’s shoulders because most of the older boys were married, Father took care of the farm for his mother until her death.  NOt only did he have the responsibility for his mother’s farm but in 1905 his sister Eunice’s husband passed away leaving his widow and two small boys, Morgan and Ellis Harris, and another farm that had to be cared for, Father willingly accepted the added responsibility. He worked hard and spent long hours doing what had to be done.  In terms of accomplishments he was successful. 

Father’s first marriage to Rose Allen was unsuccessful and ended in a divorce.  A son, Clifford, was born but knew very little about his father.  On  July 14, 1915, Father married Ellen Parry in the Manti Temple. Five children were born to that union; Ellen LaDore, Owen Delton, Charles Welton, George Parry and Sarah Marjorie who died January 27, 1928 at Malad. 

Father was a member of the LDS church and served in several capacities during his younger years. Later in life he developed a deafness that caused him to withdraw from a social life.  His pride was hurt too many times because of his inability to hear what was being said.  At the time of his death he was an elder in the church.  He passed away on July 11, 1945 in the Oneida County Hospital as a result of being thrown from a horse and sustaining severe internal injuries.  At the time of his death two sons, Charles and Parry and a son -in-law Lee Goodsell were serving in the United States Army, Parry and Lee in Okinawa and Korea, and Charles was in the states.  He was buried on July 14, 1945, on his 30th wedding anniversary.  Father worked diligently all his life.  He prided himself in being the first farmer in the field in the morning and was the last to unhitch his horses at night.  He was a good farmer and took pride in his crops, kept his machinery in good repair, and maintained an orderly yard.  He was kind and thoughtful of those who were less fortunate than he.   Many times he would take a sack of flour or a side of pork and leave on the back porch of a widow or a family who had suffered a streak of bad luck.  He never turned a tramp away without a sandwich and salesmen were always invited in to have dinner whether Dad planned on buying from them or not.  He was especially thoughtful of riders who came over the mountain in the fall looking for their cattle and in need of a night’s lodging.  He always said he was repaid a hundred times over for those kind gestures.  He took great delight in teasing young people.  All of his nieces and nephews had to inform their mates to call him “Uncle Owen” immediately after marriage.  That was a must,.  He lived to dance and accepted every opportunity to do so.  He enjoyed many kinds of musical instruments and played some of them quite well by ear.  In our home there were a guitar, a harmonica, an accordion, an old fashioned phonograph, a piano, and later a radio.  Oh how our Dad would have enjoyed television.  Not many people ever heard him play these inst;ruments, but we always begged for him to play more.  He enjoyed ice cream.  A freezer of homemade ice cream was a Sunday must.  He and Ellis Harris often staged friendly contests to determine who could eat more.  In the fall a good supply of apples, watermelons and cantaloupes were stored for the winter.  The watermelons and cantaloupes were buried in the hay in the barn and kept surprisingly well until about Thanksgiving time.  The apples were stored in the basement and almost every evening a pan of them came into the kitchen to be eaten around the kitchen stove.  At Christmas time a big burlap bag full of mixed nuts was part of our festivities. 

Dad taught all of us to work.  I am especially grateful for this.  His great desire was that his sons should each have a farm and be self-sustaining.   Dad was often misunderstood mainly because he believed in the Golden Rule.  If he kept his fences up, he expected his neighbors to keep theirs up.  If he kept his ditches clean and the water controlled he expected his neighbors to do the same.  If he loaned machinery, he expected to get it back in good condition.  If he borrowed machinery he expected to have to return it in good condition.  Many times because he was handy at fixing machinery he would repair some little thing that needed repair when he borrowed the equipment.  Dad was human, complete with all the human frailties, but he was a man who had a goal in life, and he worked toward it and taught his children to set up goals and strive for perfection.  We have gained the degree of success we have today because of him and his wife, our mother, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. To us Dad is a monument of strength, and his influence on our lives has left us with the wisdom and the courage we need to help surmount the barriers that confront us.  His influence has energized us to work more diligently toward the goals he influenced us to set for ourselves.