Grandpa Andrew Beautifies

When coming upon the Andrew Anderson ranch in Koosharem, Utah during his life there, one could not have missed the beauty. Andrew had a wonderful talent of making yards beautiful and could landscape as a professional. Even at their young age, his granddaughters Rolaine and Pauline Anderson were amazed at his ingenuity.

Rolaine said of the Koosharem ranch, "When my family and I moved back to the Koosharem ranch from Twin Falls, Idaho, everything was so beautiful. On the ranch there were many trees, flowers, flowering bushes and rows and rows of sweet peas and hollyhocks. The fences were so perfect with stairs over them.


Lilacs edged the paths which were on the side of the house and carried on to the back. Andrew told his granddaughter Pauline that he didn't care for yellow flowers and felt that anyone could grow a yellow flower. He did however, own a yellow wild rose since that was the only color he could get at the time.


Picket fences were built meticulously and wrapped around the front yard. Every corner of the fence contained a variety of beautiful flowers planted short to tall to carry the eye upward.

Not only did the front yard benefit from his expertise, but the ranch as a whole. A favorite attraction for the children was what they termed a wishing well. This was not like the one we envision from fairy tales, but it was actually a natural flowing spring which Andrew enclosed with a two foot wooden box. The cold water from this well bubbled up out of the box into a drain carefully planned to flow down onto the cattle pasture.

The Andersons boasted their own swimming pool and a pond. Andrew fashioned cement steps into the pond so that it could be used in warm months as the area baptismal font. A niece Vonda Bagley Anderson noted, "The Andersons used to have a pond at their home. At Christmastime it had frozen over; so LeGrand and I went down to skate on the pond. We were scooting along when the ice broke, and I fell and cut my chin."

Pauline claimed, "Grandpa loved to walk, and I always enjoyed walking with him, because he would point out the yards, blossoms, flowers and the birds singing to us. He loved nature and taught me to enjoy it also.

Many in the community had a saying for Andrew's talent. Rolaine noted, "If one wanted to fix something nicely you would "Andrew it up."

Andrew's second wife, Reba, tells of their marriage, "I married Andrew Anderson from Koosharem, and he came to live with me in my home. Andrew was good man and a hard worker. I enjoyed his sense of humor. We enjoyed each other's companionship so much. During the time Andrew and I spent together, I served as Loa ward Relief Society president. Andrew supported and helped me in any way he could. He planted a lawn and some trees around the Relief Society building and many times the two of us took the water turn in the middle of the night so the lawn and trees would grow. He was a great lover of flowers and always kept our yards looking beautiful and everything well taken care of."

Andrew Anderson
Loa, Utah

Grandson, Gary Anderson and Andrew

If you are a descendant of Andrew Anderson and have the same passions for nature and its beauty, you may have inherited some of his traits.