Isabelle Farr

Isabelle Farr had a pioneer upbringing seeing most of their needs met by homegrown efforts. She remembered the food produced by the garden, the orchards and the livestock. Flour for all the family came from the family mill. Wool came carded from their own sheep. She remembers their amusements in riding in their three seat carriage, bob sleigh riding in the winter and local talent shows. Isabelle or Belle as she was often called also remembers Indians sleeping on their kitchen floor who had been fed and protected by her mother. She learned to sew and had a flair for making her own clothes. She suffered with some health problems early in life and felt one possible cause was that the clinching of tight corsets giving her a small waistline contributed to her ill health. She suffered a heartbreak when her fiancee suddenly died in an accident. After some time she did marry Heber John Sears on July 16, 1884 in the Logan Temple. A year later she suffered another heartbreak with the still birth of their first child. She was unconscious for ten days and was in recovery for a long time. Early in their marriage Belle and Heber were called on a mission to New Zealand. Sailing from San Francisco they had six days of stormy passage and they decided to stay in Hawaii for a few days to recover. She met with her brother Enoch who was filling a mission there and they became acquainted with Joseph F. Smith who became a life long friend. They continued on to New Zealand on the ship Mariposa, which sailed through the end of a cyclone to calmer seas before reaching their destination. Their mission among the Maori's was difficult for Belle and after a year the mission president felt it prudent to have her return home to gain her health. She went home to stay with her parents while Heber stayed on finishing their mission. Both Belle and Heber learned to speak Maori fluently. Brother George Hill was blessed with the gift of healing. Upon Isabelle's return from New Zealand, Brother Hill blessed her with a promise that she would have children which over time she gave birth to 4 children. After the birth of her fourth baby her health improved greatly. Her personality radiated with this new found gift of health. She could yodel, and had a seemingly endless store of lullabies and nursery songs often rocking her grandchildren to sleep. When Heber returned from New Zealand, they moved to Chicago for him to study medicine. Belle helped support the family selling her homemade bow ties and keeping house for a musician. When she died in 1936 the Deseret News reported that Isabelle Farr Sears was honored by a host of friends and admirers as one of the outstanding wives and mothers in Utah. She died quietly at her family residence, she was 75 years old. She had been ill for several months and death resulted from a cerebral hemorrhage. Isabelle made her home a delightful gathering place for University students, and hundreds of friends in every state in the Union will remember her as a charming hostess who always welcomed them and radiated a sparkling personality with courage to attain worthwhile achievement. Mrs. Sears is survived by her husband, Dr. Heber H. Sears; two sons, Dr. Victor Hugo Sears of New York City, Gordon H. Sears of Washington D.C.; two daughters Mrs. Joseph E. Evans of Ogden, Utah and Mrs. Albert J. Browning of Chicago, Illinois; ten grandchildren, one sister Mrs. John F. Gay of Ogden and a large family of half-brothers and half-sisters.