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The family, with the exception of Cordon and Ella, went down Provo Canyon into Salt Lake City by team and wagon to be sealed in the temple as an eternal family. They were sealed May 16, 1923. Lizzie was 6 years old.
When she was quite young, she knew her older brother, Cordon, hung out in the pool hall after work. She would walk into the pool hall, which did not allow women or children, and tug on his pant legs and tell him she wanted some candy, ice cream or something. He got a kick out of it, would tease her for awhile but she always got what she came for.
When she was around 12, her sister’s daughter, Ruth, came to live with them. Ruth was around 2 years old and Lizzie loved her. She made her a lot of clothes, when she learned to sew, curl her hair etc.
She was full of energy and did a lot to help around the house and farm. She had jet black eyes and hair and was a very slender and beautiful girl. Ruth remembers her having a lot of boy friends.
Lizzie did a lot of things for Ruth and Dale. She did Christmas for them when they were growing up. She also did a lot for her mother and did a lot of buying things for her too.
She loved beautiful clothes and always looked so pretty, dressed nice, hair nice.
At the age of 19, she eloped with Royce William Moon, who had moved down from Woodland to Heber, and was friends with the Session boys. He also had dark eyes and wavy brown hair and deep dimples when he smiled and was extremely handsome. They 'took" Royce's Dad's car (a new Model T) and drove to Salt Lake to get married on 25 September 1935. When Royce's Dad found that his new car was gone, he reported it stolen to the police. Not only were the family looking for Royce and Lizzie, but the police too! Luckily, the police didn't get to them first! When they returned, they each had to stay at their parent’s homes for the first 2 weeks of their marriage while they found a home that they could afford. They ended up staying at a small home on the homestead of Royce's family for the first few months of their marriage. Royce worked in the silver mines at Park City and Lizzie worked at Jeff’s Café, where she gained a reputation of being the fastest and best waitress there. Later she went to work at the Wagon Wheel restaurant in downtown Heber, where she met Roy Rogers and Dale Evans who were there filming one of their first movies. They came into the restaurant every morning for several weeks and Lizzie became good friends with them. They kept in touch for several years after the filming stopped. The first time she saw Roy, she made the remark, “My husband is a lot more handsome than him. His looks was not that appealing to me. I was disappointed.”
After living in Heber and Park City, they moved to Tooele and Lizzie worked for the government driving big trucks during the day and working "guard duty" at night at the army base. She actually carried a rifle at night while on duty. Royce worked in Salt Lake at that time doing construction work. One of the main things that Royce worked on was the "Hogle Zoo". He also was the main builder of a lot of the bowling alleys, and other large buildings in the Salt Lake area. Royce was a very fine carpenter. He could read a blue print better than most men with a college degree.
After they were first married, both Lizzie and Royce got the mumps. Royce got very ill and they went down on him so that he could never father a child. So the hunt for a child to adopt started. They housed 3 different girls for the length of their pregnancy's, paying their room and board and all their medical expenses, only to have each girl decide at the birth to keep the child. They finally adopted a girl on December 12th, 1945, who was Royce's sister, Vernie's, granddaughter. They named her Mary Lou. She was named for each of her grandmothers. Then seven years later they adopted a boy from Lizzie's family (her brother Ervin's son), Mark Sessions. Lizzie's brother and 3 other children had died in a fire. Mark was born 22 July 1950 in Heber City, Utah, to Ervin and Mavis Sessions. In November, Ervin died trying to save his three children in an upstairs fire. He rolled one child down the stairs. She died later. They found him with the other two lying face down on the floor. Mark, just 4 months old, was given to them to raise and they adopted him.
Lizzie and Royce were hard workers all their lives. But Royce's work was very seasonal, so Lizzie was the main breadwinner for most of the time. Lizzie worked two jobs for most of her life. Royce did a lot of remodeling on all of the homes that they owned over the years.
Both Lizzie and Royce enjoyed their grandchildren later in their lives. Royce loved to take his grandson's fishing, and Lizzie would always play a game of jacks with the girls. They all enjoyed fishing and camping together. One thing that was enjoyed as a family, was to play monopoly or pinochle. Lizzie would make a big pot of chili and scones on cold days, and the kids would join them, along with the neighbors, and they would play games. Thanksgiving was always a fun time together for the family.
Royce enjoyed working on old cars and trucks and fixing them up to sell. He really liked going "junking". Lizzie liked to crochet and knit and do all kinds of crafts. She was a really good cook. She made the best chili and scones in the world. She also made wonderful homemade bread, but we could never get the recipe from her because she just did it like her mother did, and her mother never used a recipe either. Another thing that she could make better that anyone else in the world was her vinegar taffy. Lizzie liked people and people liked her. She was a good friend and had many friends. Royce had a memory like no one else in the world. He could name childhood friends and details about things years and years ago up until the time of his death. They both liked having family and friends around them.
Lizzie didn’t like to be called Lizzie so she encouraged everyone to call her Deon, which many did.
Mark went on a mission for the church which was a joy to them. Mary Lou was also active.
After Royce passed away, Lizzie started taking classes in the church and she finally went through the temple and took out her endowments and had herself sealed to Royce, and had Mark and Mary Lou sealed to them for time and eternity. Lizzie enjoyed her association with the people in the church and really enjoyed going to homemaking meetings.
Mark and his wife Diana, have 3 children, Amanda, Bradley and Joseph.
Mary and her husband have 5 children, Chelly, Mike, David, Tara and Spencer. They have 10 grandchildren.
Dale Sessions lived with Lizzie and Royce for awhile. The following are some of his memories:
“One thing I know about Lizzie is of all the families I lived with, she is the only one that didn’t beat me or allow Royce to beat me. She told me more than once that she tried to adopt me.
I can remember they lived next to Royce’s dad. I don’t know if Lizzie or Royce had anything to do with me buying Royce’s dad’s car an old 29 Gram Page. I paid $75 for it.
Lizzie always had her little dogs. I don’t remember the kind they were, but I do remember some were quiet mean.
Lizzie and Royce fought quite a bit and separated a few times. When they first married, you would see Uncle Cordon hauling Lizzie’s furniture back home and then take it back to where they lived. One time they were separated until one day until the divorce became final which was a year and they went back together. Cordon told them if they left each other again not to ask him anymore. He was tired of hauling the furniture back and forth. That was the last time they separated when they lived in Heber. However, they bought a home in Salt Lake and it seems like when they got back together, they would remodel the house they bought. Royce would live upstairs and Lizzie would live down stairs. The kitchen and living room was for everyone.
Lizzie collected pitchers of all her family. She was proud of them. I don’t remember the things she would collect, but she did have quite a collection. I don’t remember if it was figurines or what it was.
Lizzie was proud of her flower garden.
I don’t know about the early part of their marriage but I do know little about it later on. Lizzie would not put up with any guf and she had a mind of her own, but many times Royce would just ignore her. Some said they couldn’t get along with each other and they couldn’t get along without each other. I believe that is true. They were both great people, and were good people. I loved both of them very much and know Royce was a very smart man.”