In theory, plural marriage sounded like a piece of cake, but in reality it was a glimpse of hell.
I’ll never forget when pretty blonde, blue-eyed Rhonita Stubbs moved to the colony from Short Creek, Arizona. Bill asked her to marry him and she accepted his proposal.
Verlan surprised me about five o’clock one evening. He rushed into my kitchen, out of breath, and said that if I wanted to attend Bill and Rhonita’s wedding, we had to leave right then. We had no time to lose. I took less than five minutes to change my dress and comb my hair into a ponytail.
The wedding was held at the baptismal springs in Galeana, a place we all considered sacred. This was the same spot where, some weeks before, Marilyn had been dunked in the baptismal water, then soaking wet she had married Bill on the bank of the stream.
Verlan found a place to park. Then, as always, he lit out ahead of me, taking long strides, making it impossible for me to keep up with him. I complained, so he waited a minute for me. He held my hand as we hurried around a small hill. About twenty church members stood reverently at attention in our view. From afar we could hear heartbroken cries coming from Fay, who stood beside Bill waiting to give Rhonita to her husband in matrimony. We hurried to take our places close to the couple.
I’d never expected such despair from Fay. Her futile cries tore at the women’s hearts, while I sensed the disgust and judgment from the men. Bill looked tacitly at Fay, hoping she’d stop making such a scene. Her torrents of tears gushed forth, blinding her. I could tell she was in total anguish.
Joel the prophet, realizing that Fay’s cries would have to be tolerated, commenced reciting the priesthood vows: “Do you,” he asked Fay, “take sister Rhonita by the right hand and give her unto your husband to be his lawful wedded wife?”
Her answer was drowned out by deep, guttural sobs that startled the guests. But not even that could stop the ceremony, as she unwillingly complied.
Throughout the next few weeks, I remember attending church with Fay. She tried so hard to impress Bill. She looked radiant, all smiles as she sat in her pew. Bill spoke almost every Sunday. She would keep her focus on him, hoping he would make eye contact. But he made sure he never did. My heart ached to see Fay so brokenhearted. She accosted him on the road on several occasions, but he would not give her a second of his time. She wanted to be obedient. She tried sharing him with other women, but her heart could not tolerate it.
Fay could not control her jealousy. She repeatedly fell apart, and he repeatedly insisted that she get a hold of herself. When she persisted in her rants of jealousy, he told her to leave his home. He demanded a divorce.
Eventually, wanting to reform and hoping God would give her strength, Fay entered into plural marriage again. The lucky guy was Mauro Gutierrez, one of our first converts, and a beloved friend. Though married to three other women, including my niece Joan, Mauro flipped over Fay. He lived in poverty—though he did his best to support his families with what he earned in his welding and mechanic shop—and he had nothing to offer her—except love. She felt it was sufficient, so she joined him in the mountains to live with his other wives in the small town of Las Varas.
WHEN I BECAME GRAVELY ILL with typhoid fever, I spent two weeks in the Casas hospital. I was back home again, but too sick to care for myself. For the first two days, my sister wife Lucy took my four children to her home to tend while I recuperated a block away in another two-room adobe house.
The July heat was stifling. We had neither air-conditioning nor electricity. While recovering, I was so weak that I could not even stand up. I’d been sick for a week before I was taken to the hospital, and I’d lost so much weight, I was too frail to walk. I needed constant care.
-Sixteen-year-old Gaye Stubbs, Rhonita’s sister, was appointed to give me sips of water and feed me Jell-O and fruit juices. Too weak to make it to the outhouse, I used a small enamel pot which I usually kept under my bed, but it had been temporarily left on my doorstep.
Verlan had come home from Las Vegas, leaving his pressing work long enough to check on me. He couldn’t sit by my bedside continually because his other two wives also needed him.
Gaye was attentive. I appreciated so much her willingness to nurse me back to health. She had fallen in love with Joel and intended to marry him as his third wife. Her sister Jeannine had secretly married him as a second wife. And Joel was doing his best to keep his marriage to Jeannine and his courtship with Gaye a secret from his first wife, Magdalena.
In spite of the sweltering heat, my body started chilling. My teeth chattered. I felt as though I was freezing. Gaye went into the kitchen to heat up some spearmint tea, hoping to warm me. When she returned with a cup of tea in hand, I motioned for her to set it on my nightstand. She excitedly said, “I see Joel coming down the street. Do you want me to invite him in to see you?”
“Sure,” I replied weakly. “I need him to come and pray for me.” I figured maybe a prophet’s prayers would heal me.
Gaye opened the screen door in the kitchen, calling out to Joel, who evidently had other plans.
“Come in and pray for Irene,” she pleaded, hoping she would get a chance to flirt with him.
Joel was unaware that I had returned home. He had heard that I was hospitalized, but he had no idea I was still so ill. He entered and sat at the foot of my bed. I sipped tea as my chills subsided. Feeling warm, I had Gaye remove the blanket, so my body was covered with just a sheet.
We were unaware that Magdalena had seen Joel enter my house. She knew Gaye was tending me, so she had suspiciously watched Joel’s every move. Jealousy caused her to think that he had gone into my house to see Gaye. She flew in like a frustrated hen trying to defend her chicks, shocking all of us by smacking Joel in the face, then lunging forward to grab Gaye. Joel caught Magdalena’s arm in time to restrain her. Magdalena’s accusing hysterical screams frightened Gaye, who looked to Joel for protection. Though she could not understand Spanish, she could tell by Magdalena’s demeanor that she was out to get her! Magdalena wrenched herself from Joel’s grasp, flailing her arms, and lit into Gaye. Joel pulled her away, commanding her to stop and yelling in Spanish, “Are you trying to send Irene back to the hospital?!”
Pushing her toward the door, he demanded that she leave my home. “You know Irene’s sick. I want you to go now.”
Too frustrated to think, Magdalena charged at Gaye again, who ran out my bedroom screen door as though the house was on fire.
Then, to everyone’s astonishment, Magdalena began beating on me, falsely accusing me of helping Joel court Gaye. Joel sprang forward to stop the assault, yelling orders for her to leave at once. She continued her tirade as Joel held her arm tightly with one hand and removed his leather belt from his Levi’s with the other. Once he had freed the belt, he held it at eye level, threatening to use it on her unless she obeyed.
Infuriated, she tore out of his grasp and again began hitting me as I cried helplessly. Joel was furious when she continued pounding on me. In anger, he swung his belt, lashing out for all he was worth at his enraged wife. He acted so fast that he didn’t realize he had used the wrong end of the belt. Magdalena dodged and the belt buckle hit my left thigh. I whimpered, writhing in pain. The buckle broke from the belt and flew across the bed onto the floor.
When Joel realized that he had accidentally hit me, all hell broke loose. He grabbed Magdalena, forcing her out my screen door onto my cement step. Still out of control and completely devastated by Joel’s actions, Magdalena retaliated. She saw the enamel pot half full of my diarrhea that Gaye had left on the step, intending to empty it later in the outhouse. Magdalena gleefully threw it through the screen door all over Joel’s Levi’s and onto my rug, even splashing it onto the side of my bed. Without hesitation Joel grabbed Magdalena with one hand and whipped her with his belt all the way out to the side of the road. She cried and begged him to stop. He told her he would quit once she was off my property. Once out of my yard and realizing she had lost the fight, Magdalena bawled
all the way home. Forgetting to pray for me, Joel ran across the street to the irrigation ditch where he pulled up a handful of weeds and, dipping them in the water, tried to wash the excrement from his putrid-smelling jeans.
Gaye kept an eye on me while Joel went to look for Verlan. I was distraught, still traumatized from the lash of the belt. When Gaye removed the sheet to check on my thigh, I could see the concern on her face. The belt buckle had cut into my flesh, drawing blood.
Verlan returned me to the hospital for four more days. In my deteriorated condition and after losing fifty-three pounds, I had somehow forgotten how to walk. I couldn’t seem to control my legs. Others had to hold me up and then help me for a week or so before I could get around on my own.
My sickness taught me something my parents hadn’t—to use the wisdom of doctors. Neither I nor my siblings had ever received immunizations. My parents believed relying on vaccinations meant they weren’t placing us in God’s care. After my severe bout with typhoid fever, I made sure that every one of my children was vaccinated. I wanted to spare them the harrowing experience I had endured.
A PORTLY, GRAYING SIXTY-YEAR-OLD joined the Church of the Firstborn. He had previously been affiliated with the fundamentalists in Short Creek, Arizona. His two wives were dedicated women who tried to demonstrate through their actions that they loved plural marriage and one another.
This newcomer was a strict disciplinarian, whose explosive temper made his wives comply with his every whim. He had served on a mission for the Mormon Church but became convinced the LDS Mormons wrongly had given up plural marriage, a law he felt was essential for his salvation.
He married his first wife shortly after the two returned from their missions. Desiring to marry another woman, and to avoid persecution, he decided to divorce the first one. Soon, his first wife found herself being the plural wife. She had to hide from her immediate family and friends when she became pregnant. If it were discovered that the three of them were living polygamy, they could be arrested.
He had become acquainted with a fundamentalist from Roy Johnson’s splinter group in Arizona, so he and his two wives moved to Short Creek, but before long he became discouraged with the group’s control over him.
Joel invited this man to come to Mexico and investigate his claim to be the One Mighty and Strong. Accompanied by a dozen fundamentalist believers, they arrived at Colonia LeBaron and spent fifteen to sixteen hours a day discussing the Mormon scriptures. By the end of their discussion, Joel had made believers out of every visitor. Impressed by Joel’s answers and ability to expound the scriptures, every man swore allegiance to their new prophet. I was shocked that this brother moved his large family to Mexico so soon. Four of his sixteen children decided to stay with the Short Creek group, but soon two of his daughters were married to the prophet Joel.
This brother was determined to build up God’s kingdom. He felt that he had come across an unknown law that God allowed—if kept secret. So, when a childless couple from Holland moved to Zion, immediately the brother from Short Creek went to them, offering his services. He spent endless hours convincing them of his plan. He put them under oath to not reveal the “unknown law” to anyone else because he knew there would be repercussions.
Once the Dutchman was convinced he would be blessed with children, he reluctantly loaned his wife to the brother until he had impregnated her. After years of barrenness, the couple was jubilant, celebrating her conception while everyone else thought she had miraculously conceived with her husband. Then, to everyone’s disappointment, the baby died shortly after birth.
Soon, another “miracle” happened. The woman became pregnant again. It was then that “Brother Stud” began to brag to other members, revealing that he was the father of the unborn child. The members were appalled, wondering how he could possibly impregnate another man’s wife . . . and with his permission?
Due to the fact that Brother Stud was a father-in-law to the prophet, the sin was minimized. He was asked to “lay off” and not interrupt the couple’s lives again. He temporarily complied, but continued claiming he was in love with the woman and she would be his in eternity and the Dutchman would be their slave eternally.
We all became privy to what Brother Stud called the “law of the eunuch” when he approached another childless couple, offering his services. That woman became so irate, she turned him in to the prophet. However, Brother Stud still claimed if a man was sterile, he could appoint another man to step up and do the job. To the disappointment of us women, he was never excommunicated . . . just tolerated.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ervil had been so occupied helping build Joel’s kingdom that he had neglected his own. Seeing Joel and Verlan marrying more wives, he felt compelled to get with the program before they left him in the dust.
Ervil’s longtime friend Nephi Marston (son of Joe Marston who had been a convert of Ben’s for a short while) heard about Joel incorporating a new church. On the first trip to the new colony and after eighteen consecutive hours with Ervil, he was 100 percent converted to their new doctrine. He now believed that Joel was the prophet who had come to set the house of God in order. No one else he knew had made such claims except Joel’s brother Ben, a few years earlier.
He remembered whenever Ben met people for the first time, he would greet them with a random and bizarre introduction. Shaking hands he would state, “You’re in the same category as George Washington,” or “You’re in the same category as John the Baptist.” He would then look them in the eye and ask, “Do you understand?” He wouldn’t let go of their hand until they said yes, even though most of them probably had no idea what Ben was talking about. Nephi had wondered if maybe Ben was labeling them all according to their worthiness. He was glad his family had given up their belief in Ben.
Nephi was now married to redheaded Anna Mae, and they had five beautiful children, one who had recently passed. Anna Mae was infuriated by Nephi’s conversion and his insistence on attending conferences in Mexico with the LeBarons. She threatened to leave him if he even thought of taking her and the children there.
After the conference in April, Ervil invited himself to return with Nephi to the States and stay at his home while he preached the gospel among the Mormons. Nephi voiced his concerns, telling him that Anna Mae would never move to the new Zion. “She tries to control everything I do. We fight so much. Ever since I’ve joined this church, she has fought me tooth and nail. Sometimes I wonder if our marriage will last.”
“I’m positive that if I preach to your wife, I can persuade her to join the church,” Ervil assured Nephi.
Nephi still thought it was a bad idea and told Ervil so. “My wife has warned me to never let a LeBaron in our home. I’m afraid if you show up with me, she will leave me for sure. She wants nothing to do with the LeBarons.”
Ervil’s big grin seemed to convince Nephi that he could handle the situation. Both men left feeling optimistic about their new challenge.
Less than a month later, Ervil returned to Colonia LeBaron with Nephi, Anna Mae, and their four children. With him also was Nephi’s younger sister, Joy, whom Ervil had also converted. He had convinced her that she would benefit by marrying him, a true servant of God, so she did.
Ervil thought it was a perfect setup, ordained by God himself. Joy and her seven-year-old daughter from a previous marriage would live with Anna Mae. This living arrangement would prevent Delfina and Mary Lou from suspecting anything. Ervil wanted to keep the “things of God” to himself for a while, especially since Delfina was still weak minded. She hadn’t made a full recovery from her last emotional breakdown. At the moment, he preferred not to deal with his two unbelieving Mexican wives.
Mary Lou often expressed her jealousy toward Delfina, but Ervil couldn’t understand how an emotionally cracked woman could be such a threat. He could only imagine what Mary Lou, with her flighty temper would do when she discovered he had finally been awarded a prized, pretty, Caucasian American wife. The fact that Ervi
l had explained to her through the Book of Mormon that she would never be “delightsome” in his eyes, but their half-breed children would be, only fueled her resentment.
Nephi had purchased a small house in Colonia LeBaron; upon his family’s arrival, faithful Nephi spent the day unloading a six-by-eight-foot trailer of Joy’s and Anna Mae’s belongings. Though tired, he never complained. He felt slighted that Anna Mae seemed to avoid him that night by refusing his advances. He wanted to strengthen their bond. It seemed the past year of their marriage suffered because of their opposing religious views. Nephi wanted validation, especially since he would be leaving early in the morning. He felt overwhelmed with a new burden on his shoulder. Not only did he have to sacrifice being separated from his newly converted wife and children, but he had to support two households. The thought of being on his own in the States, with no one to come home to, saddened him. When Anna Mae rejected him, he turned over to get some sleep, praying to God to comfort his heart.
After Nephi left for the States, Ervil spent most of the day and late into the night with Anna Mae and Joy. Delfina threw a tantrum, sending her second daughter, Sara Jane, over to retrieve her father, demanding that she not return without him. Ervil would invariably lie to Delfina and Mary Lou, saying that he was spending the night with the other one. Somehow he would end up in Joy’s bed.
In less than a week, Joy’s feelings for Ervil were completely over. She would not be privy to Ervil’s lies to his other two wives, or his flirtatious antics toward her sister-in-law Anna Mae. Not only did she feel devalued, but she realized that she had been conned into a marriage of convenience (for Ervil, of course). She was furious, not only at Ervil, but at religion itself. Joy packed her essential belongings into her gray Volkswagen, and drove out of Zion with her daughter.
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