Life History of Charles William Lloyd 1913-1999
Distributed to all recipients of the Charles W. Lloyd Memorial Scholarship for Returned Missionaries.
Charles William Lloyd was born on November 29, 1913 in Spanish Fork, Utah, USA, the son of William Morgan and Alice E. Mellor Lloyd. He was the youngest of six children; he had an older brother, Owen, and four older sisters, Sara Lloyd Earl, Isabel Lloyd Miller, Mary Lloyd, and Florence Lloyd Beardall.
Charles left home at an early age. At age 13, he left home in Spanish Fork, Utah, to work on a ranch in Grace, Idaho. At age 15, he left home for good to work in the oil fields by Santa Barbara, California.
About 10 years later, when he was 26 years old, and while working on the Shasta Dam project in California, he met Josephine Griener. They were married in 1939 in Redding, California. There were no children of this marriage. When he married Josephine, she had two daughters, Virginia and Dorothy. Charles and Josephine were married 53 years before she died in 1992.
Charles loved his wife very much and often talked about his happy life with her. He said in his history, “We had a very good life, and we were great companions. We never had any arguments; we never cussed at each other; we got along fine. She was a great cook and kept our home neat as a pin.”
Charles was an owner-operator of motor graders, and that is how he earned his living. Josephine was a large part of his success. She would grease the blade, pump fuel from the tank to the grader, pick up parts, and help him run his business. She was a real helpmate.
In California, he worked on many projects as an owner-operator of motor graders. He was a California-licensed contractor for 16 years and belonged to the Operating Engineers Union since 1938. He was a superintendent or finish grader operator on many state highway and freeway projects in the greater Sacramento and Northern California areas.
Charles was a very good finish operator and never lacked for work. The management of large projects always went looking for Charles to work for them because he was very good at what he did.
Charles enjoyed his work and spoke about it often. He had an excellent memory. He could tell you about all of the jobs and projects he worked on, the location, what he did, and the year he was there.
He retired on December 21, 1971, at age 58. He had been retired for 27 years. Shortly after his wife died in 1992, his nephew Jim Beardall and his wife LaRue were in the Sacramento area and went to visit Charles at his home. They wanted to attend church since they were staying the weekend and told Charles they would like to take him to church at his local ward. After a discussion, he agreed to go, and for the first time in 66 years, he attended church.
While at church that day, he let some of his LDS neighbors know he was in attendance, and they were very pleased. One lady neighbor, Karen Gunner, befriended Charles, and he began attending church. Also during this period of time, the full-time missionaries taught him the missionary discussions.
In October 1994, he moved back home to Provo, Utah, and settled in the Cove Point Retirement Center to be closer to family. While living in Provo, he got reacquainted with his nieces and nephews and met a very special friend, Ester Drawhorn. Charles continued to go to church in Provo and became an elder and a high priest in the LDS Church. He especially enjoyed blessing the Sacrament, Bishop Hinckley, his home teachers, and the many new friends he met at Cove Point and at church.
Charles was a happy, friendly person with a fun sense of humor. He enjoyed talking about his career, the many joys he worked on, and his many friends.
He was especially loving toward his mother and always tried to take care of her, even though he lived in California. He made sure her property taxes were paid, that she had enough coal for the winter, and that she did not go without necessities. Charles always made sure that flowers were placed on the graves of his wife, his mother, and his brothers and sisters for Memorial Day and for other special holidays. In fact, he set up a perpetual fund for flowers so his loved ones would always be remembered.
Even though Charles was an inactive member of the Church for most of his life, he is an example of the importance of being taught correct principles at an early age by his mother. When his wife, who was a nonmember, died, the timing was right for Charles to become active in the Church.
Charles Lloyd left half of his estate to the LDS Church. He would be especially pleased to know his money was helping returned missionaries gain an education to return to their countries to become leaders in the Church and in their chosen occupation