Meeting and Courtship

The romance started in the science building shown on the right; Frank Harmon was a lab assistant to Professor Hall in the physiology lab; Lillie Esplin was taking a foods class in the basement. Frank had danced with Lillie at a get acquainted party and was pleasantly impressed. His friend also recommended Lillie as one who would be fun to date.

Another picture on the right (of the same outing) shows Lillie Esplin on the left with Frank Crosby in the middle. Frank was a good friend of Frank Harmon and Lillie Esplin.

So Frank and Lillie began to go to social events on campus and to enjoy group outings with friends.To the left is a picture of Lillie (on the right) feeding something to Frank in the middle. It looks as if they are on the bank of a stream.

Judging by the dress, this picture of Lillie may have been taken on the same outing as the previous pictures. This picture was the one that appeared in the Dixie College yearbook at the end of the year with the caption: "Waiting?" under it. Evidently the rest of the students at the college recognized them as a steady couple. Frank was the business manager of the student body and his description below emphasized both his hearty appetite and his romance with Lillie.

Frank was also a member of the "Owl" staff, the literary publication put out by Dixie College students.

Lillie is shown here with some college friends. Mary Woodbury was a relative and good friend of Frank Harmon.

In May Frank introduced the idea of coming to Orderville. Lillie encouraged him and listed scenic places they could visit. Frank sent fruit; Lillie sent homemade candy. Frank replied to the "Niftiest person in the land" not just because she "has reached his stomach" but she writes "some classy letters and fixes up some nifty little packages."

(The reader should realize there was no easy way to get from St. George to Orderville. Going east meant struggling through a rugged small canyon south of the main part of Zion Canyon; going north meant getting over Cedar Mountain or north of it to Panguitch and then south to Orderville; going south and east meant going through the desert to Cane Beds and through the sand dunes north to Orderville.)

By the 28th of June Frank had set the date of his visit for the 24th of July. Lillie replied that the 24th "is just the time Orderville sports if it ever does. Every sheepherder, cowpuncher and farmer that can possibly be spared has one, or two or three days off,"

Frank made the trip on horseback going south and east by way of Cane Beds, then north through the sand dunes to Orderville.

He met Lillie's family and celebrated the 24th with them. Here is a picture of Lillie taken at that time probably in front of her home in Orderville.

Lillie's brother, Israel, had a new buik. Here it is probably in front of the office at Bryce Canyon or perhaps at Duck Creek.

A package from Lillie was waiting for Frank when he returned to St. George. His family's reaction to the package was:"My she must think something special of you to go to all that bother to fix it so swell."

Lillie was worried about being able to attend school that fall and was expecting her father to announce that he couldn't afford to send her because "Pa always gets most awfully poor every fall."

In her letter August 23rd Lillie signed her usual xo's at the end but noted "If I get too soft to suit you, call me down and I'll try again." (Look at what is written along the side.) Evidently she wanted some reassurance from Frank.

Frank gave her that reassurance in his letter of August 4th saying "soft talk is okay if a person means it."

Lillie did get to return to school but not before Frank had gone north to school. Now their letters went back and forth between St. George and Logan. Below is a picture of Frank on the Logan College campus writing a letter - perhaps to Lillie Esplin?

With Frank gone, Lillie reported that Fridays were different. "I used to stay out at school all afternoon loafing around' to see if you would or wouldn't make a date" And now I hurry home to write you a letter."

Frank told Lillie her letters let him know she outclassed him in English even though she had fewer years of school with frequent interruptions. Lillie replied that his letter was "an extra good one," but if she had graduated with her class in Cedar City she would not have come to Dixie. "I count my days in Dixie as the happiest of my life."

In her December letter, Lillie hinted that they needed to talk about the future, but Frank was not able to be home for Christmas so no talk of the future took place.

In November Lillie described the preparations for a school celebration - their Founder's Day. She made a bonnet for it which can be seen in this picture. Lillie spent a lonesome and homesick Thanksgiving without Frank. The latter spent Thanksgiving with older brother Irvin and his family in Idaho. The picture below was sent to Lillie with a message on the back. "This was taken in McCannon, Idaho on Thanksgiving Day. I have two so thot you might like one."

In February Frank sent Lillie a birthday card and a ring (not an engagement ring). Her birthday was on February 21st. Lillie's reply (to the right) told him that she had been blue until she received the birthday remembrances, but the gifts changed her mood. "I'm feeling just like a singing top now...It's hard to express what I'd like to say but you know I'll always think of you when I wear it and more than likely when I forget to wear it, too."

In January Lillie sent Frank her picture (probably this one) chiding him for not asking for one when she told him she was having it taken.

To the right is a picture of Frank on a farm. It may be the farm in Davis County.

Frank continued his work at Logan including a stay at the extension farm in Davis County.

In St. George at Dixie College, Lillie Esplin was also taking classes. One of her favorites was a class in painting China. Here is a picture of a plate she designed, and later gleefully reported that her China painting teacher thought her cake plate was the best piece in the class.

On March 22nd Lillie described a sewing class project for which she would design, draft the pattern, pick the color and material and then make the dress. She ended the letter with - "I will wear it, where--

On March 26th Frank answered her letter with a proposal of marriage. He began the letter saying she should wear the new dress in Logan.

Frank had been able to get his four year degree at Logan by the end of the school year (1921) because of the extra classes he had taken from Professor Hall

Lillie replied on the 29th of March that "I quite like the idea of having my dye (die) cast with yours in Logan - especially if that's where you would like me to be.

Then some of Frank's professors advised him to get his schooling before getting married. Lillie was not happy about that but finally told him she would wait a year partly because she had a chance to teach Domestic Arts in Snowflake Arizona the next year.(And who knows, she might find someone to dance with there)

Frank's reply on April 24th was a reversal. She should not go to Arizona. "I would much prefer to get married." He agreed with his professors that if they didn't get married and both worked, they might have more money, "but what good is money and knowledge if you don't have life?"

On the 19th of May Frank reported that he had written to ask her parents permission to marry her and on the 25th of May Lillie reported that they had received the letter and given their consent. Below is the letter giving the two parental permission to marry.

Lillie agreed to come north (with help from her brother Israel) but reminded Frank that the Logan Temple would be closed so the marriage would have to be in the Salt Lake Temple. The letters flew back and forth as they made their plans to meet in Salt Lake. On the 1st of August Frank asked about housing saying "they can get 2 furnished rooms for $20 a month."

On the 7th of August Lillie answered his question about housing with her assurance that the kind of home she wanted "is the kind you can best afford even though the rooms are but two and simple - and I'll work with all my heart to make it truly a home for you - for us." (She added that she would have liked to have thrown "mister paper" away and had a talk with you"...."I am looking forward to the time when paper communication will not be necessary..")