Artena spent her first month at the Denver mission home, but devotes only one entry to her stay. Perhaps it didn't feel like real "work". She describes a welcome reception for sister missionaries (including an overview of the eats), and one additional night when she and two other missionaries went "ward Relief Society teaching". Nathaniel Felt was one of her companions that night. He, like Artena, was from Sanpete County, Utah. Did they discover that their families in Manti (Nathaniel) and Moroni (Artena) lived a scant 20 miles apart? Artena mentions only the cold, snowy night they spent at a Mrs. Anderson's house.
Nathaniel Felt was also very new to the Western States Mission, and most likely in training like Artena. He was 31 years old.
He was also married. Did I mention his wife was pregnant? Reata Deaton Felt gave birth to their first child—a daughter—on July 23, 1923, a few months after Artena's entry. It is easy to imagine the depth of everyone's commitment under such circumstances.
After his release from the Western States Mission, Nathaniel and his wife lived in Salina, Utah where they had an additional child, a son, in the early years of the Great Depression. History indicates that Nathaniel, an electrician, died in 1940 of a formerly unknown liver condition (the death certificate cites "toxic congestive hepatosis"). He was 50.
Photo: FamilySearch.org
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