Marie Weston is ONE HUNDRED years old!

Marie Pope Weston, whose home is a Garden City landmark, turns 100 this week! She was born in Garden City in 1919, just around the block from where she now lives.  Her colorful flowers on her long white picket fence are a tourist attraction and a blessing to the community. Her daughter Anita Weston said “Mother has always planted flowers along the fence from the day she moved into the house.  When we lived in Pickleville, she had flowers everywhere there as well. Mother loves flowers.”

As a matter of fact, Utah folk art painter Eric Dowdle, painted the Weston home in one of his early works.  You can see Marie and Anita standing together with their hoes for planting. This home was built by Anita’s great great Grandpa, Robert Calder.  He came to Garden City in 1879.  He was asked to move from Randolph to Garden City to be the first Bishop in Garden City.

Marie and her husband, Benjamin Early Weston, farmed on Sweetwater Hillside for many years when it was part of a real city named Pickleville where he was the mayor of the city.  Their three children, Dale Weston, Carolyn Weston Davidson, and Anita Weston were born in Garden City.

The cattle range was up and over Sweetwater Hill and a bit further into the mountains.  When people started building homes on Sweetwater Hill, they didn't like the cattle going up through that area.  They were trying to have lawns and flowers.  The cows enjoyed the green grass and flowers as well as the owners of the lots on the hill.  It became too difficult to be good neighbors because of the cattle.  The cows had gone over that area so long that Ben E. would only have to open the gates and let them go in the spring.  When it was getting fall, the cows knew enough to come home.  They would come down Sweetwater Hill.  It got so the cows were getting nervous in traveling that trail, so they would come through there at night.  They decided that the ranch would have to move. 

He bought the Ranch between Cokeville and Kemmer, it was called the BQ Ranch. Anita tells stories of her mother making several loaves of bread every day with hearty beef stews to feed the ranch hands dinner and huge breakfasts of eggs and pancakes.  She also took time to take the three children  arrowhead hunting in the wild and searching for wild berries for jams that she bottled giving them a love for being outside.  They went to Logan for supplies a couple of times a year but most everything they ate or needed was either hunted or grown and bottled on the ranch.  Marie is a crack shot too.  When her husband passed away, Marie moved back to Garden City and into the oldest existing building here.  It used to be a hotel and has many secrets in its walls. Now it is filled with beautiful antiques and hundreds of amazing orchids.

Marie was not only a rancher, she was also a painter.  Her oil painting of  Bear Lake is a treasure hanging in her living room.

But her true artistry comes out in her intricate hand pieced quilts.  At 100, she is still creating amazing patterns and colors. 

She shared her love of quilting for years being in charge of the Bear Lake humanitarian quilting, first held in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Garden City and later moved to a special room for the quilters above the Garden City Library still ongoing.  Once a week 8-10 quilts were tied and bound by friends in Rich County and sent to LDS and other humanitarian groups.  For this long term effort she was awarded two statewide awards for civic involvement.  She was also involved in the first library in Garden City decades ago.

Her wry sense of humor and love of the history of this area has entertained many visitors and friends as well as her 8 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren.  And now there are 15 great, great grandchildren.

Happy birthday dear Marie!